“Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don’t know if profit will come from one activity or another—or maybe both.”– Ecclesiastes 11:6
Thressea H. Boyd
Editor/Publisher
It’s hard to believe we are starting the fifth year of South Georgia Business + Culture Magazine. Join us as we keep growing our outreach efforts with the South Georgia Insider e-newsletter and podcast. Now in print, digital, and audio, we invite you to be part of the conversation as we promote South Georgia as a great place to live, work, and play.
Each year, we focus the spring issue on agriculture, the state’s No. 1 industry creating 400,000 jobs and infusing $76 billion annually into the economy.
Agricultural careers span more than 200 options, including natural resources, biology and genetics, engineering, chemistry, food production, sales and marketing, and the list continues.
Featured on the cover is Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) and its success in growing Georgia’s ag workforce. For more than a century, ABAC’s School of Agriculture and Natural Resources has provided unique, hands-on learning opportunities in agricultural studies.
An adventure awaits as you take Georgia’s backroads and enjoy the best the state has to offer. Grab your 2021 Farm Passport and visit Georgia Farm Bureau Certified Farm Markets that sell directly on the farm, offer tours or other educational activities, or have a market that sells Georgia foods and products.
If you’re looking for a few day trip options, head over to Wray, a small town in Irwin County, and visit Paulk Vineyards. The wine tasting room features 17 varieties of wine, including 11 from the Paulk Vineyards collection made from authentic muscadines and fruits on the Paulk family farm or Georgia farms.
About 40 miles northwest and you’re in Pitts, home of The Station 31072. The unique store is housed in a renovated service station stocked with Oliver Farm Artisan Oils and flours alongside a selection of carefully curated goods from other small family-operated farms and businesses. Spend some time and discover the process used in making Oliver Farm Artisan Oils products.
Over in rural Bluffton, you have an open invitation to visit White Oak Pastures. A sixth-generation, 152-year-old family farm, White Oak Pastures is focused on radically traditional farming. Be sure to stop by the General Store and Farmer’s Table, which is open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
If you’re traveling through Berrien County, make sure to stop by Danforth Family Farms Country Store, a popular stop in downtown Nashville for locals and tourists. The country store offers a large selection of fresh pork products from Danforth Family Farms and beef from McKinnon Cattle in nearby Douglas. The nostalgic shop also carries an assortment of Georgia-made products and country-themed home décor.
Don’t miss out on picking up dessert from the Great American Cobbler Company, a South Georgia farm family business. The company’s product line includes ready-to-bake blueberry, blackberry, peach, and apple cobblers, plus traditional chicken, creole chicken, and cheeseburger pot pies.
Extend your Nashville visit and spend the night at Southern Landing, a studio apartment available for short-stay rentals. With a perfect view of downtown, the loft is within walking distance of locally-owned restaurants and shops.
Dr. Tina Anderson has traded in her hectic schedule as president of Wiregrass Tech for a more unscheduled retirement life. With a passion for the students and a mission to create a steady supply of trained workers, Dr. Anderson will be greatly missed. We wish her all the best as she enjoys long motorcycle rides in the North Georgia mountains.
Servant leadership is at the foundation of Enay Coaching. Elton Dixon and his wife, Adrienne, started the company in 2014 to provide education and workforce development services to businesses, organizations, school districts, and families. The Enay Coaching team recently released “Ascend Together,” a leadership guidebook for middle and high school students.
Don’t forget to subscribe to South Georgia Insider Podcast, which features conversations with business and civic leaders and community influencers about the exciting and sometimes challenging things happening throughout South Georgia. Listen on Apple Podcast, Spotify, iHeart Podcast, or southgeorgiainsider.buzzsprout.com.