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Published on 01/17/00

Sustainable Ag Conference Set For January

What are the social implications of sustaining agriculture? Farmers, government agency personnel, county Extension Service agents and others will try to answer that question at the fifth annual workshop for the Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. They will meet on Jekyll Island Jan. 20-22.

National speakers will discuss the benefits and costs of American agriculture to society, human capital in agriculture and the changing profile of agricultural professionals.

"We'll explore ways agriculture can reconnect with the urbanized consumer society," said Mark Risse, coordinator of the University of Georgia's sustainable agriculture program.

"We'll also look at the environmental and societal impacts of agriculture, careers in farming and ways our research and education programs can benefit producers," said Risse, an agricultural engineer with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The program begins Thursday, Jan. 20, with 7:30 a.m. registration at the Clarion Resort Buccaneer Hotel. It includes a field trip Friday to Bacon and Coffee counties. Participants will tour family farms, a carrot processing plant and a city/county composting facility.

Sessions continue through noon Saturday, Jan. 22. The meeting is followed by the Sustainable Agriculture Working Group's Ninth Annual Conference and Trade Show, Jan 22-23.

Find registration information on the Web at http://www.griffin.peachnet.edu/sare/2000wkshp.html For more information about the conference, contact Risse at (706) 542-9067.