Fort Valley State University

Tracey Baker is convinced her husband would be missing a limb if her family hadn’t started growing organic produce.

Although she doesn’t have statistical evidence, Baker says her diabetic husband is living proof of the positive effects homegrown fruits and vegetables have on the human body. To help others eat healthy, Baker and her husband created Devana Farms a couple of years ago.

To find out how to sustain her farming operation by increasing production, Baker attended the first ever Georgia Sustainable Agriculture Summit at Fort Valley State University Thursday. The more than 200 attendees included the following: representatives from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Farm Service Agency (FSA), U.S. Department of Agriculture agencies; researchers; extension educators; non-governmental and community-based organizations; program managers and policymakers for state and federal government agencies; and other agriculture professionals. They gathered at the C.W. Pettigrew Farm and Community Life Center for the daylong event.

“It’s wonderful. I’m glad to be here,” said Baker of Flovilla in Butts County. “I have learned a whole lot. I have gotten a lot of valuable information.”

The summit focused on sustainable agriculture which promotes prosperity and stability for rural communities, and is profitable for small farmers and good for the environment.

“That’s what sustainable agriculture is all about,” said James H. Hill, who coordinated the event. “Sustainability is about the famer remaining profitable. If the farmer is not making money, he is not going to be in business.”

Also, the summit addressed priorities that can advance sustainable agriculture in Georgia since there isn’t an agency or specialist within the land-grant institutions that addresses this topic, according to Hill, who is the director of the office of minority and limited-resource farmer outreach for the southern region of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program.

“Identifying the priorities will guide people like Dr. Latimore, interim dean of FVSU’s College of Agriculture, Home Economics and Allied Programs, and Dean Scott Angle from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia,” Hill said. “It will help them better prioritize their resources from the two land-grant universities to address sustainable agriculture issues in the state of Georgia.”

Land-grant institutions teach students, conduct research and share that research with the community through outreach and extension efforts, including programs that assist farmers.

Summit participants divided into several groups to brainstorm ways to address issues facing farmers, including creating a Web site, coming up with a strategic plan and educating legislators who vote on laws that affect the agriculture industry.

The summit, sponsored by Fort Valley State, the University of Georgia and SARE went well, said Hill, who is also the 1890 land-grant liaison at Fort Valley State. Ideally, he’d like to have one next year and also have a sustainable agriculture working group to regularly discuss issues facing farmers and create plans to address these issues.

“This issue of sustainable agriculture affects all of us,” Hill said. “We have to feed our ever growing population responsibly and take the environment in which we live into consideration.”

by Ayanna McPhail