With a visit to Ag Showcase ’96 June 29 in Tifton, Ga.,
anyone can learn about farming.
Even farmers.
Scientists with the University of Georgia College of
Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences planned and planted crops to show how farming is moving
into the 21st century.
Consumers, students and farmers can see just how far
agriculture has come and how
research and technology keep changing Georgia-grown crops.
Today’s farmers use satellites, computers and bioengineering
to get better crops and
bigger yields than ever before.
In 1994, each U.S. farmer grew enough crops to feed and
clothe 129 people here and
abroad. That’s up by more than 100 people since the 1960s.
Farmers are learning to work
smarter.
“Technology and precision farming help farmers produce
food and fiber more
efficiently,” said Rich Baird, a UGA plant pathologist.
Baird and John Woodruff, an Extension Service agronomist,
worked together with more
than 30 colleagues. They prepared fields for Showcase guests to
explore near the Rural
Development Center in Tifton.
CAES scientists often team up to find better ways to grow
crops. What they learn gets
out to farmers through the Extension Service and to students in
agricultural colleges. In
the end, they help improve farming and the food and fiber
farmers get to consumers.
“We’re learning more about each other and how to help
each other, as well as
teaching Georgians about the new developments and ideas in crop
production,” Baird
said.
These teams work to bring new varieties into Georgia, breed
insect- and
disease-resistant plants or devise control plans that improve
crops without harming the
environment.
One example growing at the Showcase farm is crimson clover.
“It helps in several
ways,” Baird said. “It covers the ground and keeps
soil in place. It’s a legume,
so it fixes nitrogen into the soil, so farmers may not need to
apply as much in other
forms. And it attracts beneficial insects that control harmful
insects.”
Showcase crops include peanuts, corn, cotton, peppers,
eggplant, watermelons,
cucumbers, squash, cantaloupes, strawberries, kenaf, millet and
soybeans.
Woodruff said visitors will see new crops as well as better
old crops and better ways
to grow them. The Showcase fields will show how varieties differ
and how lime alters the
soil pH. They’ll have everything from weed control to
genetically engineered disease
prevention to biological insect control.
New farm equipment will be there, too. Baird said computers
are showing farmers where
they can cut crop costs to improve their profits.
Computer records of yields, pest damage or moisture levels
can provide maps of farmers’
fields. This saves the farmer from applying costly chemicals
where they’re not needed.
Instead of spraying an entire 50-acre field, he may need to
spray only 10 acres.
“When some chemicals cost $30 an acre and up, that’s a
big savings,” Baird
said. It helps the environment, too, he said.
Part of looking ahead requires seeing where you’ve been.
Woodruff said some soybean and
cotton plots show a living history. They reveal what these crops
were once like and how
much growing them has changed.
“We’re growing plants that have been cultivated since
the turn of the
century,” he said. “And we’re growing them right
beside varieties released in
the last year or two.
“We’re all making progress together,” he said.
methods improve profit opportunities for farmers. And they
improve the quality consumers
want.”
