Since joining UGA Extension in 2019, I\u2019ve had the privilege of seeing the Lincoln County Agriculture Center grow into an exciting community resource. Although the facility has been in operation as our local Extension office since early 2020, many community members may still be unfamiliar with what it offers. The Lincoln County Agriculture Center\u2019s primary mission is to house the UGA Extension office and provide a facility for classroom and hands-on agriculture education opportunities for youth and our community. While we work closely with agricultural producers, our programs and services extend far beyond farming and are designed to meet local needs for homeowners, youth, and other audiences!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Phase 1 of the Lincoln County Ag Center was funded primarily through grants from the state of Georgia and the USDA. This phase includes office space for Lincoln County UGA Extension, along with a large meeting room and a fully equipped kitchen designed to host agricultural events and educational programs. In 2024 alone, our facility has hosted more than 30 events, including 4-H club meetings, summer camps, and agricultural programs like no-till drill workshops, tomato-growing classes, and composting seminars. We\u2019ve also welcomed community events such as the Soil and Water Conservation District\u2019s monthly meetings and annual banquet, forestry meetings, and trainings for our local office of emergency services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second phase of the Lincoln County Ag Center is well underway, with the addition of an 88 x 140-foot covered arena connected to the existing building, funded by grants and state support. This area, fully covered with permanent bleachers, lights, and fans, provides an 80 x 140-foot space suitable for a variety of events. In connection with UGA Extension and the agricultural focus of our facility, the arena will be used for hands-on education, livestock show and exhibition opportunities, and open horseback riding nights. If you are not someone with interest in agriculture or livestock, don\u2019t fret \u2013 we also have plans for the arena to be used for community events such as movie nights, concerts, seasonal events, markets, and more- there will be something for everyone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking ahead, Phase 3 of the Lincoln County Ag Center will add another 88 x 140 barn for housing livestock of all species. This barn will have holding pens, tie stalls, wash racks, and capacity to hold animals overnight during events using the livestock arena. As part of the preparation for this and other improvements at the recreation center, there will be significant clearing of pine from the property, addition of new parking, and continual improvements to our facility moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Developing the Lincoln County Agriculture Center has been a collaborative effort, and we\u2019re excited to share it with you. Our office is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. You\u2019re also welcome to visit the livestock arena anytime\u2014it\u2019s open access, and we\u2019d love for you to see what we\u2019re building for our community!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Since joining UGA Extension in 2019, I\u2019ve had the privilege of seeing the Lincoln County Agriculture Center grow into an exciting community resource. Although the facility has been in operation as our local Extension office since early 2020, many community members may still be unfamiliar with what it offers. The Lincoln County Agriculture Center\u2019s primary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":309,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-animal-agriculture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/309"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1003"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1004,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003\/revisions\/1004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}