Symposium
Growing Healthy Communities One Garden At A Time

Schedule

8:00am - 8:30am Arrival and Continental Breakfast

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8:35 Welcome!

8:45am-9:45 am:  Susie Burton Medina

Susie Burton Medina is the UGA Family and Consumer Sciences Agent in Banks and
Habersham Counties, and also serves as the Banks County Extension Coordinator. Extension is

the outreach arm of the University of Georgia, with a mission to translate the science of
everyday living for farmers, families, and communities to foster a healthy and prosperous
Georgia. Family and Consumer Sciences Agents are community educators and resources for
research-based information on the topics of home, health, family, food, and money. This session
will cover the basics of preserving food safely at home, with an emphasis on canning. Both the
science and practice of canning safely will be discussed.

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9:45am-10:00am: BREAK

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10:00am-11:00am: Dr Bethany Harris

With a passion for horticulture, Bethany earned an M.S. in Entomology and PhD in horticulture
from the University of Georgia. After earning her degrees and working on pollinator research,
she served as the Director of Education and the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center at Callaway
Gardens where she planned and facilitated horticulture, entomology, and environmental, and
gardening programs for K5-12th grade students, homeowners, and education groups and
oversaw the 7,000 square-foot tropical butterfly conservatory. She previously served as the
instructor and program coordinator for the Horticulture Program at Southern Crescent Technical
College assisting in training students entering the horticulture industry. In her role as Center for
Urban Agriculture Director, she works directly with industry, homeowners, and county agents in
areas including small-scale sustainable food production, pollinator protection and conservation,
landscape horticulture, urban forestry, urban entomology, and urban water management.

Best Practices for Sustainable Urban Agriculture: Agriculture in the urban context
presents unique challenges: limited open space, soil quality and contamination, pest and
disease management. This presentation will explore key principles of sustainability and provide
practical production strategies for small scale operations. Dr. Harris will also highlight local
resources that are available to support the diverse agricultural communities in our region. 

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11:00am-11:15am BREAK

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11:15am-12:15pm: Dr Andrew Ogden, Keynote Speaker

Dr. Andrew Ogden joined the Controlled Environment Agriculture team in 2023 as a plant
breeder after serving as a Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems at the
University of New Hampshire. Prior to working as a lecturer and finishing his PhD, he completed
a MS in Horticulture at UGA and worked extensively on farms in both North Carolina and Costa
Rica. Dr. Ogden’s goal is to develop cultivars of specialty crops suitable for production in
controlled environments like greenhouses, high tunnels, and indoor vertical farming operations.
He is starting with following up on previous work in Cucurbit breeding in crops like melon and

summer squash while pursuing other crops based on industry interest and demand. Through his
Extension appointment he seeks to assist the CEA industry here in Georgia and beyond.
 
Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) represents a technology-based
approach to growing food crops. CEA includes a wide range of technology from simple
structures like low and high tunnels up to very sophisticated systems like indoor vertical farms.
Dr. Ogden will first characterize these different systems and the advantages and disadvantages
of each one. Then, he will explore the role that plant breeders have to play in helping CEA to
evolve and grow. He will describe some of the breeding projects that he is pursing at UGA.
Advantages of CEA compared to field-based production include the ability to locate them near
or in urban centers, the production of locally grown safe, healthy, and nutritious food, and CEA
is generating new forms of employment and economic growth.