New agriculture license plate to benefit 4-H, FFA
By Wade Parker County Extension Coordinator

Support Agriculture in Georgia' License Plate

A new specialty license plate is available to Georgia drivers, and this one is to benefit students in two of the state's most popular youth groups. No, it is not a new wildlife or sports license plate, but a new "Support Agriculture in Georgia" tag will go on sale very soon. This Ag tag will benefit all of Georgia's 4-H and FFA students.

Like other specialty tags, the agriculture tag costs a little more than your standard license plate, but a portion of the extra cost goes to 4-H and FFA to fund special initiatives in each organization.

Before the new tags can be placed on vehicles, 1,000 tags must first be pre-purchased. The initial tag manufacturing fee is $25; the total fee is $45 annually, $25 of which is the specialty tag fee. The tag can be ordered through local tag offices.

State Director of Agricultural Education John K. Wilkinson said $10 of the fee will be divided between Georgia 4-H and FFA.

"These funds will be used to support work that's relative to each organization's mission," he said, "and to promote agriculture, agriculture awareness and environmental education."

State 4-H Leader Roger "Bo" Ryles says, "This tag is a winwin win project. 4-H will win, FFA will win, and the students will win by receiving scholarships and access to programs that will increase their knowledge and understanding of the environment."

This is a wonderful program that I hope everyone will consider participating in. Over the years, we have had many people participate in FFA and 4-H programs in our community.

This is a great avenue that people can give back to these great organizations and will enable us to enhance our programs. Let's get behind this project and help it be successful.

Conservation Tillage

Workshop

We are in the process of revitalizing the East Georgia Conservation Tillage Alliance. Many people remember this organization from several years ago. The primary purpose of the alliance was to educate and enhance conservation tillage cropping systems.

In an effort to revitalize EGCTA, on Thursday, July 26, we will have a Conservation Tillage Workshop at the Midville Experiment Station. Lunch will be served at 12:00 p.m.

We have arranged two great guest speakers that will present a program called "Mythbusters of Conservation Tillage." In their presentation, they will cover the common myths people have about conservation tillage. This meeting will include several counties and we encourage all interested parties to attend.