Judge Rules Against Beef Checkoff
U.S. District Court Judge Charles Kornmann dealt a blow to the U.S. beef industry on June 21 when he ruled that the Beef Checkoff Program is unconstitutional. At the same time, the South Dakota judge granted plaintiff requests for an injunction to halt checkoff collections on July 15, 2002.

UGA FACS Dean Installed as President of AAFCS
ATHENS, Ga. -- Dr. Sharon Y. Nickols, dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Georgia, was installed as president of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences during the association's annual meeting June 22-25 in Dallas, Texas.

Farmers are the ultimate survivors
TIFTON, Georgia – Winners of the 2002 Farm Press Peanut Profitability Awards are the ultimate survivors. In the past year, they’ve faced severe weather problems, uncertain market conditions and a complete overhaul of their commodity’s government program, all the while maintaining superior production efficiency.

Peanut Conference addresses future of the industry
TIFTON, Georgia – For farmers wanting to learn more about the new peanut program and the future of the industry, the farm was not the place to be last week. Instead more than 500 farmers and industry partners gathered to learn the latest on the new program at the 4th annual Southern Peanut Growers Conference in Panama City Beach, Fla. The three-day conference provided attendees a glimpse at what’s new on the horizon in the peanut industry and the

Nation's largest fern sale returns to GPC
Georgia Perimeter College’s Fern Madness returns to the Botanical Garden located at the Decatur Campus, 3251 Panthersville Road, Decatur. Numerous varieties of ferns will be available for sale Sept. 3-6 from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. and Sept. 7, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

Mexico reopens borders, sets new guidelines
Mexican officials notified the United States Department of Agriculture in early April of new requirements for importing selected variety meats, veal and tallow into their country.

Georgians warned about giant African land snails
Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin urges Georgians to assist in the hunt for giant African land snails, a threat to human health and a serious plant pest.

Food nationality soon to be on labels
Groups representing America's cattle ranchers, pork producers, seafood producers and produce grower-shippers are supporting a proposed plan to label domestic produced fruits, vegetables, beef, pork and seafood with labels displaying their U.S. origin.

New variety may open way to grow organic peanuts
A new line of peanut developed here could help Southeastern farmers break into the expanding organic food marketplace.

Nominees wanted for environmental steward award
Gov. Sonny Perdue wants to know the Georgia farmers who are doing the best job to protect the environment on and around their farms. He’d like to recognize them for a job well done, tell other folks about them and maybe give them an award.

Pickin' up pawpaws - a yummy garden chore
Pawpaws (Asimina triloba) are more likely to grow in bottomland with deep soil than on higher and drier sites. They send up suckers and form a small colony of trees, or a “patch.” It’s is the largest fruit native to temperate North America and has a soft consistency.