Field-based tour at federal Agriculture center in Oconee County
I have been in the facility several times to take photos but I think it is something well worth investigating yourself further to find out what exactly goes on in this important research location across from the Oconee County Campus of Gainesville State College.
Subject: [oconee] Field-based tour at federal Ag center
I hope you will consider putting this on your calendar -- a unique
opportunity on October 23rd to tour the prestigious federal agriculture facility
and field sites in Oconee.
I think opportunities like this can deepen our sense of place as we get
a first-hand look at the land and institutions around us.
This is the center whose funding is in jeopardy. The Senate
Appropriations Committee gave them a short reprieve, as I describe below
in the press release.
The Oconee Democrats are the sponsors of the tour, which is part of our
monthly issues forums that are free and non-partisan.
Even if you can't come, please glance at the information below. I
learned a lot about the important work they're doing while planning the
event with the scientists who work there.
The center really is worth saving! Come learn more about it!
Please send this to others who might be interested.
Thanks!
Pat Priest
Member,
Oconee Democrats
Field-based tour of J. Phil Campbell, Sr. Natural Resource Conservation
Center
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
5:30 pm
With food prices rising precipitously and increasing pressures on water
and other natural resources, agricultural research has become all the
more crucial. And that research pays big dividends. Recent studies
show that each taxpayer dollar spent on agricultural research results in
returns of 20 to 60 percent to the nation's economy, resulting in lower
food and fiber prices and more product choices and abundance for
consumers. Soil and water are conserved and their quality improved,
too, when practices and protective measures derived from careful
research are implemented at farms in the United States and around the world.
The fate of the Oconee County, Georgia-based J. Phil Campbell, Sr. Natural Resource
Conservation Center (part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Agricultural Research Service) and its important, results-oriented work
hung in the balance earlier this year before the Senate Appropriations
Committee nixed the President's suggested budget cuts. They decided
instead to let the next President determine whether and where to make
cuts in agricultural research and other federal spending.
That reprieve allows more time for the public to better understand the
important research conducted at the 1180-acre federal facility just off
the bypass near downtown Watkinsville. To showcase some of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's research underway there, the Oconee
Democrats are sponsoring a free, non-partisan, field-based tour of the
Center on October 23rd, a Thursday, at 5:30. Many of the Center's
scientists will be on hand to show visitors around research sites where
ecologists work with animal researchers, agronomists and microbiologists
to conduct problem-solving research that protects the environment while
fostering the agricultural profits that keep rural communities strong.
Visitors will meet at the J. Phil Campbell, Sr. Natural Resource
Conservation Center on Government Station Road (near the entrance to
Gainesville State College and the bypass, just off Experiment Station
Road). Attendees will be given an overview inside before heading out in
their cars on a three-mile route to stop at various sites near the
Center and along Hog Mountain Road.
Among the long-standing challenges researchers at the Center study in
the field are soil erosion, soil and water quality, the use and
management of animal manures, and water-saving strategies. The Center's
staff disseminates information to practitioners so that while boosting
yields, farming practices don't deplete the soil, harm watersheds, or
affect wildlife and human health. Other fieldwork addresses newer
topics such as the sequestering of carbon, especially important as the
United States and other countries look for solutions to global climate
change.
Because the Center has been in operation since 1937, the long-term
nature of some of the research provides important longitudinal findings
that are rare in any field. One of the research areas on the tour
showcases the advantages of combining cover crops with farming methods
called conservation tillage; sustained analysis over a 35-year period at
that site has reaped major contributions to understanding system-wide
effects on water and soil quality.
The October 23rd tour of sites around the Center is part of the Oconee
Democrats' monthly series of non-partisan, public lectures and events
organized to inform citizens about issues in the area and state. Becky
Vaughn, chair of the Oconee County Democratic Committee, said, "We put together this
non-partisan event because Ag research is non-partisan. We want
everyone to see how much value we get out of having this fantastic
federal facility in Oconee County -- one that provides vital support for
farmers throughout the Southeast while protecting the availability and
quality of our soil and water. We've got to come together to support
this facility."
Woven brightly, 
Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. Subject: [oconee] Field-based tour at federal Ag center
I hope you will consider putting this on your calendar -- a unique
opportunity on October 23rd to tour the prestigious federal agriculture facility
and field sites in Oconee.
I think opportunities like this can deepen our sense of place as we get
a first-hand look at the land and institutions around us.
This is the center whose funding is in jeopardy. The Senate
Appropriations Committee gave them a short reprieve, as I describe below
in the press release.
The Oconee Democrats are the sponsors of the tour, which is part of our
monthly issues forums that are free and non-partisan.
Even if you can't come, please glance at the information below. I
learned a lot about the important work they're doing while planning the
event with the scientists who work there.
The center really is worth saving! Come learn more about it!
Please send this to others who might be interested.
Thanks!
Pat Priest
Member,
Oconee Democrats
Field-based tour of J. Phil Campbell, Sr. Natural Resource Conservation
Center
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
5:30 pm
With food prices rising precipitously and increasing pressures on water
and other natural resources, agricultural research has become all the
more crucial. And that research pays big dividends. Recent studies
show that each taxpayer dollar spent on agricultural research results in
returns of 20 to 60 percent to the nation's economy, resulting in lower
food and fiber prices and more product choices and abundance for
consumers. Soil and water are conserved and their quality improved,
too, when practices and protective measures derived from careful
research are implemented at farms in the United States and around the world.
The fate of the Oconee County, Georgia-based J. Phil Campbell, Sr. Natural Resource
Conservation Center (part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Agricultural Research Service) and its important, results-oriented work
hung in the balance earlier this year before the Senate Appropriations
Committee nixed the President's suggested budget cuts. They decided
instead to let the next President determine whether and where to make
cuts in agricultural research and other federal spending.
That reprieve allows more time for the public to better understand the
important research conducted at the 1180-acre federal facility just off
the bypass near downtown Watkinsville. To showcase some of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's research underway there, the Oconee
Democrats are sponsoring a free, non-partisan, field-based tour of the
Center on October 23rd, a Thursday, at 5:30. Many of the Center's
scientists will be on hand to show visitors around research sites where
ecologists work with animal researchers, agronomists and microbiologists
to conduct problem-solving research that protects the environment while
fostering the agricultural profits that keep rural communities strong.
Visitors will meet at the J. Phil Campbell, Sr. Natural Resource
Conservation Center on Government Station Road (near the entrance to
Gainesville State College and the bypass, just off Experiment Station
Road). Attendees will be given an overview inside before heading out in
their cars on a three-mile route to stop at various sites near the
Center and along Hog Mountain Road.
Among the long-standing challenges researchers at the Center study in
the field are soil erosion, soil and water quality, the use and
management of animal manures, and water-saving strategies. The Center's
staff disseminates information to practitioners so that while boosting
yields, farming practices don't deplete the soil, harm watersheds, or
affect wildlife and human health. Other fieldwork addresses newer
topics such as the sequestering of carbon, especially important as the
United States and other countries look for solutions to global climate
change.
Because the Center has been in operation since 1937, the long-term
nature of some of the research provides important longitudinal findings
that are rare in any field. One of the research areas on the tour
showcases the advantages of combining cover crops with farming methods
called conservation tillage; sustained analysis over a 35-year period at
that site has reaped major contributions to understanding system-wide
effects on water and soil quality.
The October 23rd tour of sites around the Center is part of the Oconee
Democrats' monthly series of non-partisan, public lectures and events
organized to inform citizens about issues in the area and state. Becky
Vaughn, chair of the Oconee County Democratic Committee, said, "We put together this
non-partisan event because Ag research is non-partisan. We want
everyone to see how much value we get out of having this fantastic
federal facility in Oconee County -- one that provides vital support for
farmers throughout the Southeast while protecting the availability and
quality of our soil and water. We've got to come together to support
this facility."
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