Members of the Wilkes County Agri-Forestry Council and the Washington-Wilkes Chamber of Commerce meet to view the new “Agriculture in Wilkes County” brochure now on display. Council and chamber members included (front, l-r) Shane Moore, Jenny Reville, Allan Soto, Jeff Smith, (back) Barry Goolsby, Dr. Randy Clayton, Chamber receptionist Maeozie Anthony, Ben Bentley, David Reville, Graydon Bobo, Ty Staples, Doug Abramson, Jane Bundy, and Ashley Barnett. Visitors to Washington-Wilkes are now getting a fact-filled welcome from the Wilkes County agricultural community thanks to the Wilkes County Agri-Forestry Council.

Working with AgGeorgia and the Washington-Wilkes Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Office, a new “Agriculture in Wilkes County” brochure has been created and distributed around the county.

“We have been working on a brochure for the public on agriculture in Wilkes County and after a year of hard work and determination we finally have it,” said Jenny Reville, Chamber vice-president and council coordinator. “We sincerely hope that this brochure will just be the beginning of bringing agriculture back into the spotlight as the driving force behind Wilkes County’s economy.”

The brochures are available at the Chamber/Tourism office downtown as well as other businesses throughout the county. “We have thousands of people come in to the Regional Visitor Information Center here at the Tourism Office,” Tourism Director Ashley Barnett said. “This brochure is full of information for visitors and especially for people who are interested in moving to Wilkes County. They need to know that agriculture is Wilkes County’s number-one industry.”

Reville said that many hands helped the brochure get out. “We met once a month when possible and went over facts and figures provided by Rick Smith of the UGA Extension Service and Kyle Brown with USDA,” she said. “The brochure’s design, printing, and stock was donated by Ag-Georgia and on behalf of the council I’d like to express our utmost gratitude.”

The brochure welcomes visitors to Wilkes County and offers statistics such as the facts that Wilkes County is the second-largest beef calfproducing county in the state, and that Wilkes poultry farmers raised over 81 million pounds of chicken in 2008, and that Wilkes dairy farmers produced more than 40 million pounds of milk.

Now over a year old, Reville said, “the Agri-Forestry Council is comprised of some of the hardestworking people around. For them to take time away from their farms, their businesses, and sometimes their families really meant a lot and shows their dedication to the future of agriculture in Wilkes County.”

The council was born out of a need for unity in the agriculture community. “We saw that there were many groups for certain commodities of agriculture, but no one unifying voice,” Reville said. “We held several public meetings about agriculture as a whole in the county, and tried to invite as many people as possible in ag-related careers and industries. We then decided to hold

voting session where someone could be elected as a commodity representative and that’s how we have our current council today.”

The council consists of the following: Jeff Smith, Smith Dairy Farms, Inc., chairman; Shane Moore, Moore Contracting Solutions and Moore Angus Farm, vice chairman; commodity representatives Ben Bentley, dairy; Graydon Bobo, beef cattle; Dr. Randy Clayton, small ruminants; Barry Goolsby, lumber manufacturing; Bobby Jones, forestry; Tim Miller, horticulture; and David Reville, poultry.

Ex-officio members of the council include Allan Soto, Chamber of Commerce president; Eric Holton, agricultural education; Douglas Graham, Ag-Georgia; and Rick Smith, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service.

Reville said the council needs more input from the community. “If you have any questions or would like to participate in the future please let one of our members know or contact the Chamber of Commerce,” she said.