The 6th annual Southeastern 4-H Crop Scouting School was held July 25-27, 2023. 4-H members from Seminole, Mitchell, Miller, Decatur and Grady Counties in Georgia along with 4-Hers from Jackson County Florida attended this collaborative 3-day event. The Crop Scouting School highlights agriculture scouting techniques and career possibilities.
Kevin Rentz and Jim Griffin discuss peanuts with local 4-H students.
Jim Griffin showing students the proper scouting procedure.
Day 1- Tuesday July 25th. The students first visited Rentz Family Farms where grower Kevin Rentz and crop consultant, Jim Griffin, told why they find agriculture fulfilling and taught the students how to scout cotton and peanut fields. After lunch the group visited Attapulgus Research and Education Center. Farm Manager, Lee Hitson, explained the purpose of the facility and the important agricultural research gathered on site for local and international agriculturalists to use. The 4-H’ers used sweep nets in the fields in search of insects. To close out the day, the group watched a demonstration on irrigation drones from UGA Graduate student Cole Byers. They learned the regulations for flight, current technology restrictions and viability of farmer usage.
Day 2- Wednesday July 26th. Crop Scout School traveled out to Headland, Alabama where the second day began on Hartzog Farms. Owner and operator, Dallas Hartzog, spoke with the students about his satsuma operation specifically in regard to marketability, harvesting and processing for shipment. Students observed frost damage among trees and learned future steps needed to recover from that damage. At the next stop, William Birdsong and Chris Levin led a tour of their Highnote Peanut Sheller facility which included byproducts of the commodity. The last visit of the day was at a local pine tree farm where they were shown forestry equipment, were educated on prescribed burns, and career opportunities with the Alabama Forestry Commission. Jeff Hogan, Lester Williams, and Chris Cotton directed the educational tour.
Day 3- Thursday July 27th. The final day of Crop Scout School started at Hatcher Farms in Marianna, Florida. The students heard from several speakers about water quality management, fire management, and tree replanting that is currently going on in Florida. The speakers were Sydney Bunch, NWFWMD Director of External Affairs, Ben Favre, NWFWMD Bureau Chief of Lands Management, Coakley Taylor, NWFWMD East Region Land Manager, and Eric Toole, NWFWMD Forest Supervisor. The tour finished by visiting cotton trial plots that are researching nitrogen usage in sandy soil. Various pest capture devices used in research were also presented. Crop Scout school ended a hot week by cooling off in Blue Springs Park where the students dove into the spring or caught crawfish on the nearby banks.
The planning committee for the event consisted of Justin Odom, UGA Extension Seminole County, Cale Cloud, UGA Extension Grady County, Brian Hayes, UGA Extension Mitchell County, Lindsay Hayes, UGA Extension Decatur County, Cody Powell, UGA Extension Miller County, Scott Sherard, UGA Extension Seminole County, Sedrick Mack, Regional Extension Agent Alabama Cooperative Extension, Ethan Carter, Regional IPM Agent UF/IFAS Jackson County, and Cindy Meadows, UGA Extension Seminole County.
