ARTICLE TOOLS

E-mail story

Comments

Printer friendly version

iPod friendly version

Share This

Text Size: A A A A

Getting down and dirty in Georgia

By: Mike O'Neal
(Contact)

Included in this article

Ted Dyer

TRENTON, Ga. — For more than 20 years Ted Dyer has held what many might consider a dirty job.

But the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service agent for Dade County said he has always loved working in farm fields and barnyards.

“My dad was the Extension agent for Gordon County in 1970 — we moved to Calhoun when I was in fifth-grade — and I was always involved in 4-H,” Mr. Dyer, 48, said.

Since 1908, nearly a decade before Congress established the Cooperative Extension Service to deliver information from land-grant colleges and universities to all Americans, the University of Georgia had a traveling university that presented exhibits statewide.

Extension agents of today carry on the work of helping farmers keep current with technology, market research and business practices related to agriculture.

But, the service is not all rural. Agents also help urban families raise healthy children and provide other expertise and advice.

Mr. Dyer’s life has been about helping.

After being awarded bachelor’s and master’s degrees in animal science, Mr. Dyer in 1985 joined the Floyd County Extension office in Rome. He moved to Dade County as an agent in 1988 and in 1991 was named coordinator for the office here.

On Monday, Mr. Dyer moves on to greener pastures.

Though he will continue to live in Dade County, he will become a beef cattle agricultural scientist at the same Extension Service office in Calhoun where his father retired in 1991.

Just as he followed in his father’s footsteps, Mr. Dyer has one son majoring in animal science and another, a third-grade student, who is just starting to show cattle through his 4-H participation.

“I grew up in 4-H and have always been a strong 4-H supporter,” Mr. Dyer said. “It is rewarding to know I’ve made a difference in young lives.”

Future Farmers of America and 4-H have a presence throughout Dade County Schools, according to curriculum director Tracy Linder.

“Participation varies from year to year, but these are very active programs,” the Dade County native said.

Recent activities have included landscaping projects in and around Trenton as well as an active program of livestock shows, Ms. Linder said, adding the community has always supported these school-based programs.

“It was a big part of my life growing up in a small town,” she said. “It expanded my world.”

Extension Service programs are geared toward the small farmer, but as fewer Georgians engage in farming, the educational programs have extended beyond crops and cattle, Mr. Dyer said.

Environmental protection and conservation instruction, 4-H clubs in schools, master gardening classes for suburbanites and consumer education programs comprise about half a typical agent’s responsibilities.

“It has really changed over the years,” he said.

Particulars related to a county Extension Service agent’s job may have changed over the past few decades, but the mission to educate remains unchanged, according to Norman Edwards, the agent for neighboring Walker County.

Mr. Edwards will add Dade County interim coordinator to his Extension Service duties list until Mr. Dyer’s replacement is hired.

“We are seeing a lot of changes as the demographics change, but there are still a lot of large and small farms,” Mr. Edwards said. “There are a lot of folks moving from different metropolitan areas who are buying small farms, but who never raised horses or cattle or farmed before.”

Not only are farms being operated as hobbies or by retirees, there is a growing trend toward niche markets that make the small farm a viable business, he said.

There is an agricultural revival in raising organic produce, grass-fed beef and free-range chickens that requires training a new generation of farmers, Mr. Edwards said, but some things about the Extension Service remain constant even as they evolve.

“We are going to miss Ted,” Mr. Edwards said. “He did a good job on a wide variety of programs. The new person will have their job cut out for them.”

Comments