News Stories - Page 10

Increasing populations and changing climate conditions will require both innovative and ancient growing methods to feed the world. Regenerative agriculture, a movement both burgeoning and broad, is underpinned by the public’s growing awareness of how land stewardship and agricultural production contribute to the fate of our planet.

Mel Garber remembers the phone call clearly. “How do we turn off the fireplace again?” His wife, Barbara Bankston, was on the other end of the line. She’d turned that fireplace on and off a thousand times. It’s a gas fireplace, so all you have to do is turn the knob, Mel told her. Maybe it was a one-time slip of the mind, he thought. They were getting older.

Members of the Southern Region Program Leadership Network, Association of Extension Administrators and the Association of Southern Region Extension Directors, including those from the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, convened in Orlando, Florida, for the annual conference. This year, Laura Perry Johnson received the Association of Southern Region Extension Directors’ Award for Excellence in Leadership, a career-long service award for those who lead Extension programs across the Southeast.

When the two-time reigning national champion Georgia Bulldogs step between the hedges at Sanford Stadium this fall, Dooley Field needs to look the part. More importantly, though, it needs to help safeguard the health of athletes who compete on it. Gerald Henry plays a big role in the latter.

For Zilfina Rubio Ames, blueberry research begins after the plant is bred and in the ground. An assistant professor of horticulture in the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and a small-fruit specialist with UGA Cooperative Extension, Rubio Ames endeavors to better understand blueberry plant physiology and how it can be manipulated to increase production efficiency.

It is no wonder that Marcus Jones owns five companies. Growing up in Decatur, Georgia, he has long had a knack for business, from selling candy in seventh grade to brokering real estate at the University of Georgia. By his senior year at UGA, he had launched an online clothing boutique with friends.