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| This Week's Titles: |
| Handbooks
Inform Georgians On Pesticides |
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Natural Enemies Of Fire
Ants Being Studied |
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| Students
Learn About Healthy LIfestyles |
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| Rural
County Tackling Urban Challenges |
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| 2007
A Frustrating Year For Beekeepers |
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| Handbooks
Inform Georgians On Pesticides |
1:38 |
Handbooks are available to
help homeowners and professionals stay informed on the latest
developments about pest management. |
More than 25,000 Georgian's
use pesticides as part of their profession. Millions more citizens
manage pests around their home with the help of pesticides.
To help Georgian's learn the latest about pest management and
pesticides, scientists with the University of Georgia's College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences composed two Georgia
Pest Management Handbooks. :"Well these books represent the
work of probably around fifty scientists from the College of
Agriculture. And it has the best advice updated annually for
management of pests on almost any crop you can find in Georgia."
That was Paul Guillebeau with the College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences. The information in the handbooks serves
two critical functions: how to manage pests, and how to minimize
risks to the environment, and to human health. The professional
handbooks are sold to licensed pesticide applicators across
the state. The household editions are available to anyone, and
can be obtained at local county extension offices. University
scientists are in the final stages of updated the handbooks,
and the 2008 editions of the Georgia Pest Management Handbooks
should be available early next year. 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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| Natural
Enemies Of Fire Ants Being Studied |
1:46 |
Research by college scientists
may find some natural enemies that will take the sting to fire
ants. |
The imported fire ant has
found a home in Georgia, with the numbers greater than in its
native South America. A major reason contributing to the large
number of fire ants is the lack of natural enemies to keep these
painful pests under control. Scientists with the University
of Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
have released several natural enemies of fire ants, to study
their behavior. Two fly species have produced encouraging results
by showing fire ants how it feels to receive a painful sting.
"It is a painful sting to watch them get stung because they
go into all sorts of contortions and eventually they'll kind
of recover and begin to move around a little more slowly but
eventually they're going to die if they've been stung by the
fly." That was Wayne Gardener with the College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences. Parasitic flies have spread to occupy
areas of South Georgia, West-Central Georgia, and Northwest
Georgia. These flies weaken fire ant colonies, which makes them
more susceptible to other control efforts, as well as to competition
from several native ant species. Research has also been conducted
on a natural disease to make fire ants sick, but the results
have not been as encouraging, since the disease spreads more
slowly. 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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| Student
Learn About Healthy Lifestyles |
1:34 |
Several children in a Central
Georgia county spent a recent summer learning about healthy
lifestyles. |
Around fifteen youth in
the fifth and sixth grades in Butts County took part in a five-day
summer enrichment program during the summer of 2006. Jenny Brown,
a county extension agent in Butts County says each day featured
a different workshop with trips to see how some of the foods
they eat are grown. On a trip to a garden, many of the children
got to pick vegetables for the first time. "And they actually
got to pick. And it was amazing how many of them had never seen
vegetables actually growing. And we picked cucumbers, and squash,
and tomatoes." Jenny Brown with the University of Georgia's
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. During the
summer enrichment program in Butts County, students also took
trips to a Farmers Market in Dekalb County, and a blueberry
orchard. There were also learning sessions, where students learned
about the new food pyramid, and where the food they put on their
plates come from. Based on post-test results, students in Butts
County gained an average of eighty-one percent knowledge from
the summer enrichment program. 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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| Rural
County Tackling Urban Challenges |
1:36 |
A rural Central Georgia county
is working hard to achieve positive results from urban development. |
Dodge County Commissioners
and citizens are concerned about land use and urbanization of
agricultural land. Furman Peebles, a county extension agent
in Dodge County says a major challenge was dealing with the
poultry industry expanding into the county. "And specifically
chicken houses, these confined feeding operations coming into
the county and people do not want these chicken houses close
to their homes. So they have tried to come up with some guidelines
and some land use planning so that we could continue the ability
to farm the land, and at the same time people use their land
for subdivisions and these other uses that we have here." Furman
Peebles with the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences. A fifteen member planning committee
was formed to develop guidelines for land use in Dodge County.
The purpose of the guidelines were to establish mutual respect
between agricultural, residential, and commercial land owners.
The committee established setbacks for confined animal feeding
units for agricultural encroachment on residential, as well
as residential encroachment on agricultural land use. 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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| 2007
A Frustrating Year For Beekeepers |
1:30 |
Several problems have stung
beekeepers in the state hard this year. |
For Georgia beekeepers,
2007 can't end quick enough. Keith Delaplane, an entomologist
with the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences expects honey production and sales to
take a big drop this year. He adds several problems made beekeeping
and honey production a difficult challenge in 2007. "All the
way from the forest fires earlier in the summer through the
prolonged drought which has harmed our honey production. Yes,
2007 will probably go down in infamy as a bad beekeeping year."
Keith Delaplane with the College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences. Another problem beekeepers had to deal with was a
disease called colony collapse disorder, caused by a newly detected
virus. Fortunately, the disease has not hit Georgia's beekeeping
industry as hard has it has other Southeastern States. The only
area of the state that managed good honey production was the
mountain counties. But for the rest of the state, beekeepers
will have a lot of bad memories when they look back on the year
2007. 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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