A crowd of more than 35 farmers and Macon County residents seeking forestry information packed the Macon County Extension office in Oglethorpe to attend the Beginning Farmers Workshop on June 29. Fort Valley State University’s Cooperative Extension Program in partnership with Square O Consulting LLC, co-sponsored the event held from 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
Some agencies making presentations include the Georgia Forestry Commission, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
Forest health, timber management, estate planning and cost sharing programs available through the USDA were the topics of discussion.
“We have a lot of landowners that have a lot of timberland and we wanted to let them know that it can be managed and they can make a profit from that land,” said Ricky Waters, FVSU’s Macon County program assistant.
Waters said the workshop is needed because during a number of his site visits, he noticed some clients had overgrowth problems with weeds and brush that hampered their forestry health.
Macon County farmer Kyle Jones, said the workshop provided him the proper information to address his land management concerns. Jones, who owns 100 acres of land, said he learned about burn techniques, a method he plans to use in the fall to clear some of his land.
“This workshop was very helpful. If you are a landowner and want to do what’s right, the presenters said you have to manage the land well to get the best out of it,” Jones said. He said he would recommend his fellow farmers to attend future workshops sponsored by FVSU’s Extension program.
For more information about FVSU’s Cooperative Extension programs in Macon County, contact Waters at (478) 235-8702, (478) 472-7588 or email watersr@fvsu.edu.