The state kicked off its “Vision 2020” in Gilmer County last week.
Gilmer High School was the site of the celebration Thursday and drew distinguished guests from Atlanta.
Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives David Ralston, Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Gary Black and State School Nutrition Director Dr. Linette Dodson, as well as representatives from senator Kelly Loeffler’s office made the trip.
In 2015, the department of agriculture and department of education set the Vision 2020 in motion. One of its initiatives was to reach the point where “at least 20 percent of the meal requirements for student lunches to be comprised of Georgia-grown products.”
“Georgia Grown” is not just a distinction bestowed upon Gilmer County Schools, but a division of the Georgia Department of Agriculture, which seeks to help grow local agribusinesses. Dodson and Black addressed the assembled crowd to kick off the day’s festivities.
“This is an exciting day for Georgia Grown, the department of ag, as well as the Georgia Department of Education,” Dodson said. “This has been a while coming. The commissioner and I started back when I was a local director promoting Georgia Grown. We’re excited to see what Gilmer County is doing. This is an example of how the schools from around the state are focused on providing Georgia-grown products.
“We’re excited that is a focus of quality school meals in Georgia and look for that to continue.”
Black noted that $59 million worth of Georgia-grown foods were purchased by 180 districts in 2019. He also shared that the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently purchased $44 million worth of Georgia agriculture products for “U.S. domestic school use.”
“Georgia-grown produce is available to every school, every day, today and moving into the future,” Black said. “I’m grateful to Gilmer County. It is a beacon in that and providing leadership. We get excited about athletics, we get excited about academics, but it is agriculture’s responsibility to get excited about nutrition. We challenge our ag groups in your community to be a partner with school nutrition locally.”
Ralston discussed how Georgia’s agriculture industry has evolved over the years and how its products have expanded.
“Forty year’s ago, agriculture was the No. 1 part of our economy,” Ralston said. “That was primarily row crops, poultry, cattle and pork. It has diversified so much. Who would have ever thought we’re now making olive oil here in Georgia? Georgia has become a wine destination.
“But what hasn’t changed, is still the No. 1 part of our economy here. Our economy has expanded and grown in Georgia but agriculture remains No. 1.”
Those in attendance enjoyed a Thanksgiving meal, which the GHS culinary department helped serve and oven roasted turkey headlined the menu.
Afterward, Gilmer Schools nutrition director Linda Waters highlighted the efforts of the district’s Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education departments. Agriculture teacher Micheal Bushey shared plans that will help keep local foods on the school system’s menu.
“Our vision when we built our ag center was to try to have as much of Gilmer County’s agriculture on site as possible,” Bushey said. “We’re going to build a small orchard. We have 135 fruit trees ordered. For our horticulture pathway, we’re going to have native trees and plants planted on site near our outdoor class area.
“The vision one day is that maybe those apples and fresh fruits will be served in our schools’ cafeterias.”
The day concluded with a video presentation of GHS student Octavia Bushey, who recently won the National Agricultural Proficiency Award in the area of dairy production entrepreneurship.