The Project

Partners include: Georgia Cooperative Extension Service, Georgia Poultry Federation, Department of Agriculture, and Farm Bureau.

Pilot testing in Georgia is coordinated with on-going producer training and certification programs. The Georgia poultry industry has adopted a voluntary Nutrient Management Planning program. A first phase of training producers through extension education programs has been completed. Followup training is being conducted county by county. The third phase will train for operator certification. The project will assess factors affecting producer participation and the effectiveness of voluntary program components. It also will identify areas in need of improvement. Acceptance by both producers and integrators is critical to project success.

Products

Georgia Poultry Environmental Management Systems Guidebook

Georgia Poultry EMS Template Pack

Updates

Final Report - December 2005

View the Final Report Summary.

March 2004

View the Summary Interim Project Report.

Fall 2003

Georgia is moving forward with plans for an EMS roundtable. Click here to view the publicity flyer.

Summer 2003

Currently 20 producers are pursuing EMSs with the Georgia pilot project; 11 are Extension led, 6 are self led and 3 are consultant led. Earlier this year participants working with Extension began the assessment phase, reviewing steps 1, 2, and 3 of the EMS Guidebook, and participating in several one-on-one farm visits. Participants reviewed assessment results and began to develop action plans in early summer. Several methods of assessment have been utilized including independent brainstorming, NRCS evaluation, farm visits by Extension, self assessment with Farm*A*Syst and EMS project tools and at least one ACWF OFAER assessment. Priority issues have been primarily related surface water, as well public perception and enhanced regulatory and special interest group scrutiny. Some common items that will most likely be incorporated into action plans for improvement include mortality management, petroleum storage and record keeping. Most farmers in the study are already involved in nutrient management programs and will simply maintain these under the EMS. A Gold Kist corporate farm is working with a consultant. Suzanne Sessoms has been contracted to also work with two other farms on EMS development, as examples of professional consultant developed products.

Georgia is planning an EMS roundtable for late October. Please look out for updated information in the near future.

February 2003

Farmer EMS orientation and introduction meetings. We would expect to conduct an introductory meeting with all growers to share project goals and let them know what will be expected of us and them. There would also probably be a short survey that each grower would complete.

January 2003:

Twenty-eight pilot farm volunteers have been invited to attend an orientation the first week of February. Thirteen farms in North Georgia and 14 farms in South Georgia will participate. At this meeting treatment groups will be revealed with one group receiving Extension led EMS development, the second group will develop an EMS primarily self guided (with the use of assessments and guides) and finally the third group will work with consultants from AgriWaste Technologies, a contractor with Gold Kist. EMS development should begin on farm in February and March. The same data will be collected form all groups during the study; the final products will also compared. An adjusted timeline is below:

Late Winter 2003/Spring 2003:

• Period of EMS Development
• Date collection and analysis
• Farm group debriefing

November 2002

As of the end of November, 34 pilot farms have been identified. A meeting of core stakeholders and project participants is to be held on December 11th in Atlanta. Top agenda items include:

• planning of farmer orientation meetings
• further development of experimental design (3 groups)
• review of guidebook. We are still working from the general timeline and plan of work listed below.

Late Fall 2002

Farmer EMS orientation and introduction meetings. We would expect to conduct an introductory meeting with all growers to share project goals and let them know what will be expected of us and them. There would also probably be a short survey that each grower would complete.

Late Fall 2002/Winter 2003:

• Period of EMS development-individual farmer interaction with consultants/extension, assessments, planning, implementation and reviews
• Data collection and analysis
• Farmer group debriefing Spring 2003-Core stakeholder meetings and analysis (invitation only)

Summer 2002

Major EMS conference (open to the public) A small number of non Gold-Kist growers who have volunteered will also be piloted.

September 2002

The Georgia project will be working with the integrator, Gold Kist and the plan of work is as follows:

1. UGA completes assessment tool for use with minimum assistance group
2. Gold-Kist solicits 20 to 30 farms for participation
3. Farms are divided into 3 groups:
1. consultant produced EMS
2. extension produced EMS
3. minimum assistance/self-produced (with use of assessment tool and perhaps field men)

© 2006 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.