Tag Archives: Georgia’s rural center

“Powerful Peanut Experience” Shines at Georgia National Fair

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Perry, GA |

At this year’s Georgia National Fair, visitors entering the Georgia Grown Building were greeted with a vibrant new addition: the Powerful Peanut Experience, a fully immersive exhibit designed to showcase the impact and legacy of Georgia’s number one crop — the peanut.

With Georgia producing more than half of the nation’s peanut supply, the exhibit was created to help educate fairgoers on the crop’s importance, from its agricultural roots to its everyday presence in lunchboxes and pantries across the country.

“This year, we unveiled the Powerful Peanut display where we tell the story of the Georgia peanut,” said Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper. “You know, we’re the number one producer of peanuts in America. Over fifty percent of peanuts are produced in the state of Georgia. These displays give people a real opportunity to know where their food comes from, how it’s grown, and it tells the story of our producers and our farm families and the work they do every single day.”

That mission — to make agriculture relatable and accessible to all — was a joint effort between the Georgia Peanut Commission and Georgia’s Rural Center. Together, they created an exhibit that could spark curiosity and ignite understanding, especially in the next generation.

“Ag education is a big focus of the Rural Center and the Department of Agriculture,” said Charlie Fiveash, Executive Director of Georgia’s Rural Center. “With peanuts being Georgia’s number one crop, we want to make sure those opportunities are presented to the students and others who come through the exhibit — to see the importance of agriculture and in particular, peanut production here in Georgia.”

The exhibit took visitors on a journey from the field to the kitchen table, highlighting every step of the process.

“Our end goal for this exhibit is for people to really have a deep understanding of what exactly goes into those candy bars or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches people eat every day,” said Maddie Frost, Project Coordinator with the Georgia Peanut Commission. “From the farmer to the shelling plant and beyond, we want people to know the hard work behind their food. And of course, we also just want people to eat more peanuts.”

To accomplish that, organizers focused heavily on creating a hands-on, interactive experience.

“We have multiple monitors that walk you through and help you learn different things,” Frost added. “We also have our peanut wagon where people can walk up and see what it looks like during the drying process. We wanted it to feel real — like people could truly understand what the process is.”

Ultimately, it’s all about building appreciation — not just for peanuts, but for agriculture as a whole.

“People need to understand the importance of agriculture,” said Fiveash. “Georgia’s number one industry is agriculture, and that awareness is the big takeaway — not only for this generation but for the next. We want to make sure Georgia continues to be number one in agriculture.”

By: John Holcomb

Immersive Fair Exhibit Showcases Forestry

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Perry, GA |

Ag is of course big business here in Georgia, and a new exhibit inside the Georgia Grown Building at the Georgia National Fair is aimed at making people aware of that fact with the new “Seedlings to Solution’s Experience” – an exhibit designed to showcase Georgia’s thriving forestry industry, which happens to be number one in the country.

“We came to agreement with Commissioner Harper to bring a new life to and contemporary look to Georgia Grown and give the fairgoers and the people who attend who don’t know anything about Georgia agriculture, Georgia forestry, etc., and rural communities that thrive by those industries, but to give them a new, modern, conventional look at, it’s big business; AG’s big business. Forestry’s big business,” says David Bridges, Director of Georgia’s Rural Center.

“To be able to present forestry and to show Georgians such a great experience at the fair is so exciting for us. We’ve been working on this for a year, and we can’t wait to have people come in, learn about forestry in Georgia. Learn what makes a working forest tick. Learn the importance of forestry in Georgia outside of, you know, your typical paper or lumber in your home, but to be able to see all the many ways that we use wood products here in Georgia and in the world,” says Wendy Burnett, Director of Public Relations for the Georgia Forestry Commission.

What makes the exhibit so unique is the fact that it’s an immersive experience – one that allows people the chance to explore the forestry industry from the time the tree is planted as a seedling until it’s harvested and used to create products consumers love and enjoy.

“If you feel a certain way about forestry that’s negative or you don’t understand why we have to harvest trees or why forests need to be managed; the best thing that we can do is take you on a field trip and show you the forest and show you what we’re doing, let you behind the gates to see what management looks like every day and the stewards that are making that happen. The cool part about this exhibit is that gives us an opportunity to bring really the forest to the average fair grower and the people who are coming and visiting this fair,” says Matt Hestad, Senior VP of the Georgia Forestry Association.

In the end however, the ultimate goal they hope to achieve is just bridging the gap between Georgia’s forests and consumers by showing them the different aspects of the industry and its important role in their everyday lives and more importantly, our state’s economy.

“We really wanted to give people the broad view of forestry in Georgia to see all the different careers available for instance in forestry. It’s not just a logger, it’s not just a sawmill worker. There’s so many different careers in forestry. We also wanted people to understand what it means to have a working forest, and that it’s okay to harvest trees because we’re planting more trees right back to replace those. And we want them to understand that Georgia’s forests are a renewable resource. We want them to understand that they should feel good about using forest products that come from Georgia’s working forests,” says Burnett.

By: John Holcomb

Seed to Shirt Exhibit Showcases Georgia’s Cotton Industry

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Perry, GA

Cotton is certainly big business here in Georgia and this new exhibit inside the Georgia Grown Building at the Georgia National Fair is aimed at making it even bigger by showcasing the value of cotton grown here in the state and hopefully benefitting those that produce it.

“One of the great things about Georgia agriculture, it’s the number one industry in the state, but it could be by far and away the number one industry if we could conceive of and develop ways to add value to Georgia agricultural products and retain more profit in the hands of those who produce it,” says David Bridges, Director of Georgia’s Rural Center. “We could have an even far greater impact in terms of employment, economic activity and whatever. So, Cotton’s a great example, a great example. We grow one of the best cottons in the world. We’re very good at it. But we have no capacity within the state to use that cotton.”

However, as Bridges explains, that has changed thanks to Zeke Chapman, Owner of Magnolia Loom – a company dedicated to producing shirts made of one hundred percent cotton that’s grown in Georgia.

“This is this exhibit is sort of an experiential embodiment of what has happened in the last few years. So, we have a young entrepreneur from rural Georgia, from Sandersville, who has taken it upon themselves to buy cotton from Georgia farmers and produce garments right here in the state that reflect the use of our products, adding value to Georgia cotton in a way that helps the farmer, helps this small upstart business created by a young entrepreneur from rural Georgia. It definitely helps economic development in that small town of Sandersville. So, that’s what this exhibit is about, is us demonstrating to the people who come through the fair that we can add value to Georgia agricultural products in a way that benefits everyone,” says Bridges.

According to Zeke, he hopes the exhibit will help with rejuvenating the textile industry here in the state, as he says one of his biggest challenges is the fact that not all of the parts of the shirt making process are done here in Georgia.

“Doing what we do isn’t easy,” says Magnolia Loom Owner, Zeke Chapman. “Finding the supply chain that we have has been really tough. Just learning the garment industry as a whole has been really hard to know that cotton is spun into yarn and then knit and then finished and then cut and sewn and garment dyed. There’s a lot of different steps and what we do and part of why we’re doing this is to bring that supply chain back to the state of Georgia. It was here years ago and our goal was to see that come back. Right now, our cotton’s grown in Georgia and our sewing is done in Georgia, and our goal is continue to move parts of that supply chain back to the state of Georgia.”

In the end however, the most important thing they hope to achieve is just making that connection to agriculture with anyone that comes to the fair by telling the important story of Georgia cotton.

“I think it’s important for individuals, especially those coming to the fair, to know what agriculture is about, where their food comes from, where their fiber comes from, where their shelter comes from. And this is an awesome opportunity for us to tell that story, that seed to shirt story of how cotton started and how it ends up in processing to the shirt that you have on your back,” says Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture, Tyler Harper.

By: John Holcomb