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| This Week's Titles: |
| Direct
Marketing Taught By College Scientists |
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Cleaning Up Before Pecan
Harvest Begins |
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| Research
Being Conducted On Good Bacteria |
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| Air
Conditioners Provide More Than Cool AIr |
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| Volunteers
Helping Young People Become Winners In Life |
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| Direct
Marketing Taught By College Scientists |
1:50 |
Thanks to efforts by college
scientists, consumers can get a direct look at the source of
some of the meat products they purchase. |
In recent years there has
been a trend in Georgia and the nation toward direct marketing.
Some of this direct marketing involves beef and other meat products
from livestock. To help people learn the latest about direct
marketing, several workshops were held last year in Athens,
Calhoun, Statesboro, and Tifton. The workshops were taught by
scientists and agricultural economists with the University of
Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
to farmers, community leaders, and agricultural professionals.
"Many people are interested in buying directly from farmers
and that might take place either by going out to a farm and
identifying an animal that they wanted to buy or looking for
meat products at a farmers market or going together to buy shares
and buying a side of beef or a part of a beef that sort of thing."
Julia Gaskin with the College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences, who adds the workshops were held so people could learn
about the regulations and food safety procedures to keep consumers
safe. Those taking part in the workshop stated the information
they learned improved their understanding of direct marketing
that involves livestock products. They also said they would
make changes and put into effect some of the things they learned.
John Harrell, University of Georgia College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences, reporting from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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| Cleaning
Up Before Pecan Harvest Begins |
1:38 |
Growers need to give their
pecan orchards a good cleanup before the nuts start falling
from the trees. |
Reports still indicate
Georgia's 2007 pecan crop could be one of the largest in several
years. So pecan farmers need to make sure they do a good job
cleaning up under the trees. Lenny Wells, a horticulturist with
the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences says growers will probably have to remove a lot of
dead limbs in the coming weeks. "The most disturbing thing most
growers have faced has been the sound of breaking limbs each
time the wind blows. With loaded trees there are a lot of limbs
to remove and there will continue to be right up to harvest.
So limb cleanup is going to be an ongoing project." Lenny Wells
with the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
As growers make out their list for pecan grove cleanup, they
should include cleaning herbicide strips, and keeping the grass
mowed down, even it requires several trips with a rotary mower.
This will help mechanical harvesters do a good job picking up
the nuts. If the weather remains dry, growers should continue
applying water to trees, so pecans will have a chance to fill
out completely, and to help the shucks completely open up. Applying
water also reduces the stress on the trees after producing a
heavy crop. John Harrell, University of Georgia College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences, reporting from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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| Research
Being Conducted On Good Bacteria |
1:24 |
College scientists are studying
certain bacteria, in an effort to improve the health of certain
animals on the farm. |
When most people hear the
word bacteria, they think of bad little creatures that make
us sick. But since 2003, scientists with the University of Georgia's
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences have been
conducting tests on probiotics, or good bacteria. "Probiotics
are cultured bacteria that we feed to animals. They are naturally
occurring but we feed a culture and these bacteria then live
in the gut and they exclude the pathogenic bacteria. That means
they compete for nutrients with the pathogenic bacteria . And
in that way they keep the animal healthy." That was Mark Froetschel
with the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Results from the research have been encouraging, but more research
must be conducted, since the exact mechanism for their claimed
success is still uncertain. But these good bacteria have the
potential to improve the health of cows, hogs, horses, and other
animals that make their homes on farms throughout the state.
John Harrell, University of Georgia College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences, reporting from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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| Air
Conditioners Provide More Than Cool Air |
1:22 |
An air conditioner or roof
could provide much needed water when landscape plants and shrubs
get thirsty during dry weather. |
Many people notice water
trickling out of central air conditioner units on days when
the temperature and humidity are high. Frank Henning, a watershed
agent with the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences says a homeowner could collect a
large amount of water from an air conditioner, with the help
of a rain barrel. "Some houses even have multiple air conditioning
units so the amount of water you can produce can vary pretty
considerably but it wouldn't be very difficult to think that
you could get somewhere in the neighborhood of five even fifty
gallons of water a day. If it's a hot day and that air conditioning
is running for a long period of time it can generate a fairly
significant amount of water." Frank Henning with the College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, who adds more water
can be collected by putting barrels at roof edges, gutters,
and downspouts to collect water runoff from the roof when it
rains. Collecting and using water that's normally wasted around
the home can help homeowners nurse their landscape plants when
the weather turns hot and dry. John Harrell, University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, reporting
from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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| Volunteers
Helping Young People Become Winners |
1:46 |
A lot of young people in a
North Georgia county are learning valuable lessons because volunteers
are stepping up to the plate. |
The latest reports indicate
a young person must have the support of three or more non-parent
adults in their lives, for positive youth development. A large
number of adults that were former 4-H members still live in
Walton County. So these adults were recruited, and volunteered
to help with the Walton County 4-H program. Judy Ashley, a county
extension agent in Walton County says the county is growing
rapidly, so the volunteers were needed. "Thanks to our volunteers
that we're able to do this cause we're in such a growing county
here in Walton County. It's really the only solution that we
could come to is to get some good adults to help us outreach
all these kids here in the county. I think we had a five percent
growth rate this year. We're around 75,000 right now and by
2010 they're estimating it to be at 95,000." Judy Ashley with
the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences, who adds volunteers contributed more than six-hundred
hours to the Walton County 4-H program in 2006. Thanks to the
volunteers, the retention rate of 4-H members has increased
by twenty percent. Fewer young people are "falling through the
cracks" because 4-H has more caring adults to touch their lives,
and keep them involved. John Harrell, University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, reporting
from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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