More than 30 4-H\u2019ers from across Georgia competed in the 2021 Georgia 4-H Pumpkin Growing Contest, with the winning pumpkin weighing in at 650 pounds. The Pumpkin Growing Contest offers students the opportunity to learn and utilize knowledge of agricultural and environmental sciences to produce prize-winning fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association generously sponsors this important contest that cultivates an appreciation for proper fruit and vegetable growing techniques in young people. In addition to the basics of caring for pumpkins, contestants incorporate mathematical knowledge of space, depth and irrigation needs for their plants. They also develop problem-solving skills for common agricultural challenges such as insect control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Magdalena \u201cMaggie\u201d Payne, an 11th grade 4-H\u2019er from Union County, earned the top honor in the 2021 contest with a 650-pound pumpkin. Second place went to Angelo King-Rallo with a 598-pound pumpkin. King-Rallo is a ninth-grade 4-H\u2019er from Union County. Ava Sharp, a Union County 10th-grade 4-H\u2019er, earned third place with her 529-pound pumpkin. These students received cash prizes and ribbons to recognize the impressive entries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Union County enjoyed great success in the contest this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are incredibly proud of our 4-H\u2019ers and the way that they have represented Union County,\u201d said Jacob Williams, Agriculture and Natural Resources agent for University of Georgia Cooperative Extension in Union County. \u201cThis season presented unique challenges, as every season does, but they persevered. We hope that next year we will be able to keep building on the success that we have had.\u201d Williams serves as the leader of the Union County Pumpkin Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All Georgia 4-H\u2019ers are invited to participate in the Pumpkin Growing Contest and pumpkin weights are verified by local county Extension offices. State winners were celebrated in conjunction with National Pumpkin Day on Oct. 26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Georgia 4-H empowers youth to become true leaders by developing necessary life skills, positive relationships and community awareness. As the largest youth leadership organization in the state, 4-H reaches more than 175,000 people annually through UGA Extension offices and 4-H facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For more information about the Georgia 4-H Pumpkin Growing Contest, visit\u00a0georgia4h.org\/pumpkin<\/a>\u00a0or contact your local\u00a0Extension office<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n[mailerlite_form form_id=9]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" More than 30 4-H\u2019ers from across Georgia competed in the 2021 Georgia 4-H Pumpkin Growing Contest, with the winning pumpkin weighing in at 650 pounds. The Pumpkin Growing Contest offers students the opportunity to learn and utilize knowledge of agricultural and environmental sciences to produce prize-winning fruit. The Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association generously […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30427,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[9074,8777,10544],"class_list":["post-30426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-georgia-people","tag-4-h","tag-uga","tag-union-county","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}