Extension Agent Josh Dawson works at his office in the Lowndes County Extension Office. He has many duties including work with school gardens.

VALDOSTA — When Josh Dawson started work as a county extension agent in November 2013, he brought with him decades of agricultural experience.

Dawson grew up on his family’s farm in Lowndes County, working alongside his mother, brother and father to grow sweet potatoes, pecans, corn, watermelons and peas and to raise cattle and goats.

After high school, he went to Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College while working at the University of Georgia’s Experiment Station in Tifton throughout his undergraduate studies.

Dawson’s specialities are row crops — cotton, peanuts, etc. — but when he came to work with the Lowndes County Extension Office, one of the first projects involved working with school gardens.

“A lot of this was new to me, especially the smaller gardening,” said Dawson. “I learned a lot from our master gardeners, especially Annie Barbers who’s spearheaded all these gardens. She helped put it all together. I walked in when they had already started running.”

In the gardens, students work with sweet potatoes, peas, lettuce, broccoli and carrots, while growing a small orchard of pear, fig and pomegranate trees.

The gardens are uniform across different schools, so that students can continue with the crops.

A fifth grader who helps care for a newly planted pear tree, for example, can still experience harvesting pears after he/she moves to middle school.

“We’ve been working with Valdosta City School Systems and a lot of different partners throughout the community installing raised bed gardens for each grade level in elementary school, middle school and eventually in high school, as well,” said Dawson.

The school gardens serve two purposes.

Students get to learn about and experience agriculture first-hand.

Dawson wants to see gardening and agriculture become a part of the curriculum.

The gardens also help to offset the presence of food deserts in Valdosta.

“Certain areas of Valdosta are considered food deserts,” said Dawson. “There’s no fresh food in walking distance.”

Along with school gardens, Dawson works with homeowners and farmers and also oversees the annual Ham and Egg Show.

“It’s so broad; it’s a learning experience every day,” said Dawson. “I specialized in row crops, but you’ve got to know everything from wildlife, aqua culture, turf grass, ornamentals.

“I’m truly blessed and happy to be in this position. It’s almost a missionary-type job. You go out and you get to help people.”