Chris Groskreutz recently made a record for our College. He was the first UGA CAES student to compete in the Rodeo National Championship which was held in Wyoming in June 2002. 

Chris is no stranger to the rodeo arena. He won the Ozark Regional Steer Wrestling Championship in 2002, just as he did in 2001.

He Wants to be Part of the Ag Debate

Chris began his college career at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) in 1997. After graduating from ABAC in 2000 he made the move to UGA and into the CAES to finish his undergraduate degree in agribusiness. 

"I had more of a business background growing up but my interests are in helping farmers and agribusinesses," he said. "There is much debate about whether farmers and other agricultural firms can sustain themselves without governmental intervention. I want to be part of that debate."

After completing his degree, Chris wants to work for an agency committed to helping agriculture. He hopes to land a job with a governmental agency, such as the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission (GSWCC), that is designed to work out environmental issues that surround agriculture. 

Beginning his Graduate Studies

He completed his undergraduate degree in agribusiness, Class of 2002, and will begin his master's studies in fall semester 2002 in the Agricultural and Applied Economics Department.

As a CAES undergraduate, Chris served as president of Rodeo Club and was also active in Collegiate FFA, Alpha Zeta, and the Agricultural and Environmental Economics Club. He was also Block and Bridle Chaplain last year. 

Chris is the son of Robert and Debbie Hawkes and Glenn and Jan Groskreutz of Between, Ga. 

(Article by April Reese, Education, Communication and Technology Unit - Athens.)

By Kate Carter 
kcarter@onlineathens.com 

Eric Floyd of Athens, who won $99, 800 over five days on Jeopardy, in his home Wednesday afternoon. Floyd's wife made the novelty check next to him.
Jeff Blake/Staff 

   Eric Floyd always told his wife that if he won on ''Jeopardy!,'' he would replace her $99 Kay Jewelers special with a fancy new wedding ring.

   And less than one year after they married, Floyd found himself face-to-face with host Alex Trebek on the TV quiz show not once, not twice, but five times. The University of Georgia agricultural economics student became a four-day champion on the game show, losing on the fifth show but taking home a grand total of $99,800.

   Bethany Grider Floyd now wears a new ring and 27-year-old Eric has a new guitar. They purchased a Bulldog named Briggsy and will pay off all their college loans.

   Floyd's stint on ''Jeopardy!'' aired first last Thursday, and lasted until Wednesday, when he answered the "Final Jeopardy" question correctly but did not have enough money to win.

   The journey from his hometown near Calhoun, about 70 miles north of Atlanta, to the Los Angeles studio required a keen knowledge of the world of trivia and a calm demeanor.

   ''It's scary to go and meet someone like Alex Trebek, but then my grandpa always said, 'Well, everyone drops their drawers to (go to the bathroom).'''

   Floyd made it through his least favorite category of ''candy,'' and dominated in categories such as ''sports'' and ''history.'' Floyd reads ardently, serves as the captain of UGA's College Bowl team and helps write high school trivia competitions -- a man well-prepared for the intellectual rigor of ''Jeopardy!''

   He first flew to Los Angeles in February to compete on the show. He began his day in the green room, where, he said, ''they had assorted goodies, though I wanted a sausage biscuit, of course.'' He endured the makeup application and sat in the audience with his wife and members of both of their extended families, waiting anxiously for his name to be called. Five shows are taped each day, with only a five-minute break in between. Contestants are called from the audience just minutes before the camera begins rolling and Trebek greets the audience like it is a new day entirely.

University of Georgia student Eric Floyd poses with "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek after his stint as a five-time winner on the game show.
Special 

''It doesn't feel like you're on TV,'' said Floyd. ''It feels like you're playing a game. That's the fastest 22 minutes I've ever experienced in my life.''

   Floyd, in his Southern accent that he said sounded significantly more Southern on camera, told the national audience a story about breaking his leg at an Allman Brothers concert. He bore the pain of his leg, limping around in the audience just to hear his favorite song, ''Whipping Post.''

   Bethany Grider Floyd said she sat in the audience, ''a nervous wreck'' about her husband's competition.

   After winning four games, Floyd said he could not seem to ring the buzzer quickly enough during the fifth show -- a disappointment, since five-day ''Jeopardy!'' winners score a Jaguar.

   ''(The man who won) didn't know much more material,'' said Floyd. ''He just beat me ringing in on the buzzer. I hated not winning the Jag and the extra money, but I was kind of glad it was over.''

   And while Floyd's hefty winnings from the first four shows may still qualify him for a position in the Tournament of Champions, for now he is ready to move on. He has no further plans to compete in other game shows, because, he says, '''Jeopardy!' was always my dream.''

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Thursday, June 27, 2002.

Doris Strickland is retiring with over 30 years of exemplary service to the Agricultural and Applied Economics Department. Such longevity and excellence of service are truly remarkable. She joined the department as a secretary soon after graduating from high school and worked her way through several positions. She is retiring as Office Manager on September 30, 2002.

She received numerous departmental awards for her distinguished service, particularly as Degree Program Assistant. She served in this position during the challenging conversion from the quarter system to the semester system, playing a critical role in the transition. She kept up with changing requirements and assisted students with meeting graduation requirements. Many students cited Doris as the person most responsible for their being able to successfully graduate.

She became Office Manager in June 1999 and served with excellence in that position. Her most notable accomplishments in that position related to hiring new faculty and staff. She provided leadership for recruiting and appointing numerous faculty and staff. She has also been responsible for the daily operations of the department.

The entire department owes a great deal of gratitude for her effort, dedication, and service. Even her decision to retire was based on serving others. No one here can remember what the department was like without Doris. We all send Doris our thoughts and best wishes upon retirement..

A coach once called Harvey Witt a Jack-of-All-Trades since Witt was more of an all-round athlete than a specialist. Witt has also taken the "all-round" attitude with his career.

Witt works in the Agricultural and Applied Economics Department at the CAES Griffin Campus. It is a small department with four faculty and three staff members. The size allows Witt to work in varied areas. Witt works in production, marketing and resource economics. His time can be split between researching golf course revenue, peanut pricing and water utility compliance to EPA regulations. Moreover, one day he may analyze data and the next design a website or repair the computer network. Some could find the differing duties troublesome, but Witt enjoys the variety. "If I just wrote SAS programs all day, I'd get bored. The different responsibilities keep my job exciting and challenging," he said. 

Witt was raised in Marathon County, Wisconsin and once lived in Colby, WI where Colby cheese was developed. At the time, Marathon was the largest milk-producing county in the United States. The community was largely made up of farmers and those who supported them. In accordance, Witt's father had worked as a cheese maker, one of his grandfathers as a lumberjack and the other as a farmer and a leader in the farm union movement.

Despite community and family history, Witt never considered a career in agriculture. In the 8th grade, he was required to present a speech on the career he wanted in agriculture. "At the time, I thought one couldn't get a more ridiculous assignment; I said I wanted to be a veterinarian," Witt said.

Entering the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Witt chose journalism as his major. However, during his first semester there, his interest in economics began. "I had a great teacher for Intro to Macroeconomics that semester and for some reason I really enjoyed drawing graphs," Witt said. Witt declared economics as his second major and later decided to attend graduate school. Witt graduated from Iowa State University with a Masters degree in 1982. Shortly afterwards, his career at the University of Georgia began. 

Like his job duties, Witt's interests are varied.  He enjoys  whitewater kayaking, bicycling and woodworking. Much of his home is furnished with his work. Witt's wife, Susan, also enjoys kayaking and bicycling and is a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor.

The forest and the trees
UGA helps spearhead Forest Service national study to set wilderness value benchmarks

By Brad Haire
bhaire@uga.edu

The National Wilderness Preservation System holds and protects millions of acres in the United States from human development. But of what value is this wilderness, really? 
UGA scientists are helping spearhead a national study to help elected officials, regulatory agencies and land policymakers answer this question.

When such natural areas as a wilderness are preserved, there is often debate on whether the preservation is worth the lost jobs and income that might come from commercial development.
“What do we get back in return for preservation?” asks John Bergstrom, an economist with the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “What are the benefits?”

The study is a collaborative effort between UGA and the U.S. Forest Service office in Athens. It will incorporate the studies, opinions and inputs of economists, sociologists, ecologists, philosophers and preservation experts across the country. There are benefits both for developing and for not developing natural areas.

“There are tradeoffs,” says Bergstrom, who is leading UGA’s part of the project.
The study will identify the social, economical, ecological and ethical values of the land already under the NWPS. This includes 644 land units, totaling nearly 106 million acres. Georgia has 485,000 acres protected in the north, southeast and coastal parts of the state. The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is the largest of these areas, encompassing 396,000 acres of the 438,000-acre swamp.

Trying to determine the value of land preservation is not a new idea, Bergstrom says. But this year-long project will collect all the information from the past and combine it with new studies.
The final product will be a reference book that can be used by anyone looking for the tradeoffs and values of current and future land-preservation projects.

For example, imagine a large city whose water supply begins in the small streams that flow through a natural area north of the city, an area that is increasingly being developed. The development has economic benefits for the area but will increase sediment and waste products in the water on its way to the city. City officials figure the increased cost of treating the “developed” water is around $6 billion.

Would it be better to move forward with development and spend the money for water treatment? Or would it be better to buy the land and set it aside as protected preserve? In a similar situation in 1997, New York City officials decided it made more sense to buy the land and preserve it.
“We can use this project to learn more about the economic and environmental values of natural areas in general, whether they’re wilderness areas or not,” Bergstrom says. “There’s a lot of concern about the loss of natural areas.”

With this information, he says, state and local governments can see the benefits of setting aside natural areas and better understand what is gained and lost. On the other hand, the project will tell in a more precise way how much is being lost because a preserved area is not being used for farms, mines or houses.

Congress passed the Wilderness Act in 1964. Under its terms, grazing, mining and timber cutting are restricted in public areas, as is the use of mechanized vehicles. Originally the act covered 9.1 million acres. Now, 4.4 percent of the continental United States is protected as wilderness.