Our Impact
Making A Difference in Our County
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension is working hard for its constituents. The following are examples of Extension’s impact in the county over the past year.
4-H Youth Development
Effingham County 4-H provides high-quality educational programs designed to empower youth to become strong leaders, engaged community members, and responsible individuals. Serving students in 4th through 12th grades, 4-H offers a welcoming environment for all young people to explore leadership, community service, personal growth, and fun through a wide range of activities and events.
Each year, more than 1,500 youth participate in monthly programs, including in-school learning for all 5th graders, homeschool meetings, and specialized activities for middle and high school students. With over 20 service projects completed annually, Effingham 4-H youth make a meaningful, lasting impact on the community.
Effingham County 4-H is recognized statewide for excellence in Project Achievement, camping, and Project SAFE shooting sports. Our camping program, consistently ranked among the top three in Georgia, offers unforgettable outdoor experiences that foster teamwork and personal development.
Guided by the philosophy of “learning by doing,” 4-H emphasizes practical skill-building, responsibility, initiative, and self-confidence. Through intentional leadership development, Effingham 4-H continually expands youth leadership capacity, skills that extend beyond 4-H into schools and the broader community.
At Effingham 4-H, our goal is to help every young person find their spark, enabling them to thrive and succeed in a positive, supportive learning environment.
Georgia 4-H & Effingham County 4-H Impacts?
Agriculture and Natural Resources
Effingham County agricultural enterprises are estimated to have reached nearly $45million. 黑料网 Extension functions as a service not only to those entrepreneurs engaged in agriculture, but also to homeowners and industry throughout the county. Effingham County Extension works with individual county residents per month to distribute sound scientific recommendations to solve a broad array of issues involving wildlife, water, soil, crop production, and livestock production just to name a few. These services produce on average +500 one-on-one consultations per month. Over 700 soil, plant, and water samples are submitted through our office to help address those issues. Of all the industries represented in Effingham agriculture forestry products comprise the most income flow, second only to row crops. Greenhouse and Agritourism are also highly valued sectors within Effingham County, ranked top-30 in both categories out of all counties in Georgia. Several research projects with the objective to increase forest productivity are underway currently through the ANR extension office. We are working with a number of producers to assess the feasibility of forestry weed control methods and with several others to find practical ways of dealing pine tip moths. Weed competition in young pine plantations have measurable impacts on yield throughout the life of the plantation. Corn and cotton variety research trials take place annually, alongside peanut demonstration plots. These production studies give local producers local insights that improve their businesses sustainability.?