UGA President expresses commitment to GA ag
by Jennifer Whittaker

UGA President Michael Adams (center) got a first hand look at how UGA research benefits Georgia poultry producers while touring the broiler house of Greene County producer Jackie Copelan (left) with GFB President Zippy Duvall (right). The poultry producers explained to Adams the strict biosecurity measures they must follow to protect their flocks against disease, such as farm guests covering their shoes and clothing before entering a house.

University of Georgia President Michael Adams expressed his commitment to Georgia agriculture during a visit with Georgia Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall on his Greene County farm, Sept. 13.

Duvall and Adams talked about beef and poultry production and the importance of UGA ag research to all Georgia farmers as they fed Duvall’s beef herd and toured a broiler house.
“I appreciate Dr. Adams making time in his schedule to visit with me on my farm,” Duvall said. “The visit allowed him to see firsthand how the ag research the University is doing benefits farmers. My impression is that he understands agriculture is a big part of Georgia’s economy, and he’s going to make sure the University continues to take agriculture into the future.”
Adams told Duvall that he gained an appreciation for agriculture by spending summers on his grandfather’s Alabama dairy farm and from his dad working in the food processing industry for Kraft Foods.
“I think the College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences (CAES) is one of our most important colleges. We’re a state that still has agriculture as its number one industry. As a land grant university we have both a research and an applied responsibility to agriculture, and I think the University is as committed to that as it has ever been,” Adams said. “We’re doing a lot of basic research that’s directly applicable to the crops, livestock, and poultry industries that provide livelihoods to half a million people in this state.”
Adams addressed the loss of extension agents and CAES faculty that occurred after state budget cuts in 2003-2004.
“We went through a really tough time in 2003-2004. We had 58 million dollars cut from the University’s state appropriations. We lost some faculty and staff. In the last two years in agriculture alone we’ve added back about twenty-five faculty and about fifty extension agents once the money flow started again.”
Adams said the University will continue to support research experiment stations, such as Midville, as long as funding is provided by the state.
“Dean Angle is due a lot of credit in the Midville case. If he had not been creative about rearranging some of his priorities he would have had no choice but to close that facility. We think research stations around the state are very, very important. Now that the state is doing better I think we’ve crossed that bridge at least for the foreseeable future.”
Adams encouraged farmers to talk to their legislators about the need for funding for ag programs.
“We need rural, suburban and urban supporters of agriculture to let their legislators know how important agriculture is to the economy of the state. The University is going to do its part to ensure that we remain a top five ag school as we are, and that we continue to provide the kind of service that’s important to the agricultural industry in the state that ultimately benefits all of us.”
Adams also thanked Georgia’s agricultural community for its support of the University.
“Many of the commodity groups and the ag groups across the state have been long-term contributors to this University. We simply could not have the qualitative programs that we have today without their support.”
Since Duvall’s broiler houses were between flocks, he and Adams toured a broiler house on the farm of his neighbor, Jackie Copelan. After discussing the production requirements for raising a flock of broilers, Adams mentioned that all 47 of UGA’s campus buses are now running on a blend of biodiesel derived from chicken fat and petroleum diesel. The fleet burns about 300,000 gallons of fuel a year.
“We thought if we were going to do research on biofuels we needed to include a practical application,” Adams said. “Our scientists are doing research to determine the best blends of biodiesel and petroleum for optimum machine operation.”
UGA has more than 50 scientists researching alternative fuels, Adams said. UGA researchers have developed a new biofuel derived from wood chips and pellets. UGA was recently awarded $20 million to research new methods of converting switchgrass into fuel.
Adams also outlined steps the University has taken in recent years to increase CAES enrollment. While Adams admitted that general admission to UGA is probably not going to get any easier as the state’s population grows, he pointed out that UGA has expanded programs offered at the Tifton and Griffin campuses. He credited a program to assist transfer students with increasing CAES enrollment by 20% in the last three years. “I think we’re back on the right path that will populate the College of Agriculture in a more effective way.”