- [Announcer] "A Fork In The Road" is brought to you by.

- I'm Tyler Harper.

As your agriculture commissioner, I have the honor of representing one of the hardest working groups of people in our state, our farmers.

That's why we invite you to take the Georgia Grown Challenge.

Try any Georgia specialty crop against any other state's produce, and you'll pick Georgia-grown.

♪ Picture perfect ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Hang the picture up on the wall ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ I see you shine from afar ♪ ♪ Yeah, to me, you are a star ♪ ♪ All right, baby ♪ ♪ It feels good, feels fine ♪ ♪ Take the feeling, pass it on ♪ ♪ Just pass it on ♪ ♪ Da, da, da, da, da ♪ - I'm Tyler Harper.

As your agriculture commissioner, I have the honor of representing one of the hardest working groups of people in our state, our farmers.

That's why we invite you to take the Georgia Grown Challenge.

Try any Georgia specialty crop against any other state's produce, and you'll pick Georgia-grown.

- The fascinating and ever-changing world of agriculture.

Let's hit the road here in Georgia and meet the farmers, producers, makers, and bakers who keep us all fed and keep us coming back for more, straight ahead at the fork in the road.

(vocalist humming) (dramatic music) ♪ I came from the mud ♪ ♪ There's dirt on my hands ♪ ♪ Strong like a tree ♪ ♪ There's roots where I stand ♪ - [Narrator] Georgia farmers, artisans, merchants, and producers.

We depend on these men and women every day of our lives through the choices we make and the food we consume.

Their strategy and approach is always shifting, but the end game remains the same, results.

(dramatic music continues) (gentle music) Education in agriculture.

Learn to grow well and learn to grow right.

From preschool and elementary school all the way through higher education and beyond, there are no limits when it comes to what can be taught.

The world and ways of ag is always changing, and it's our job as a society to properly teach the next generation how to do it best.

This week, we meet students, professors, and community leaders who believe in the power of education and all things agriculture.

(vocalist humming) (dramatic music) Let's begin our journey at a charter school in Atlanta where a few small bites can lead to healthy bodies and inspiring creations.

(bright music) There are endless options for food these days, and not all of them are healthy, which can make for confusing decisions, but many food options are as healthy as ever and as tasty as ever.

It is the job of our schools to teach our children to prepare for the life ahead of them academically, but there's also an opportunity to prepare them for a healthy and nutritious life moving forward, creating healthy habits at a young age, and that's where the Small Bites Adventure Club enters the fold.

(upbeat music) - We started Small Bites Adventure Club in 2019.

There was a group of four of us.

Chef Asata and a teacher, Jenna, and a farmer, Judith Winfrey, and I all came together as a way to give teachers really easy turnkey resources to lead food education in the classrooms.

On Monday when they got to school, they were looking and saying, gosh, you know, I love that the concept of farm to school is out there, but I really need something that I can do with my students that teaches them really easy recipes, and so we wanted to create something that was really, really easy that teachers could use with their kids without having to go through a lot of training beforehand.

- Good morning, everyone.

Guess what we'll be doing today.

- [Children] What?

- Take a guess.

What do you think, Aubrey Rose?

- Making lemonade.

- [Instructor] Making lemonade?

Why do you think that?

- I said making, because I see that.

- Yeah!

Early childhood is all about experience.

It's all about exposure.

It's all about connection, and we're spending eight hours a day with our students.

We're sharing meals with our students.

We're modeling for our students, and teachers have just such a huge influence on children's lives, and we're spending so much time together that if we can impart that food is health and that food is connection and it's family and we're exposing them to different things, different cooking skills, that is critical.

From birth, we're told read with your kid so that they're a lifelong learner and reader.

Expose them to these fruits and vegetables.

Have these moments together where you're cooking and you're eating together, and you're going to create a child that has healthy habits and makes these choices and knows about these choices.

Just seeing their little curious, eager faces, they all wanna participate.

They all wanna be a part of it, and sharing that and having that connection with them is really special.

(upbeat music) Has anybody ever been to the farmer's market before?

- Me!

- Oh, yes!

- Yes?

Mackai, what do you get at the farmer's market?

- We get bananas and apples and onions.

- Bananas?

- [Interviewer] How did you get involved with Small Bites Adventure Club?

- Several years ago, Chef Asata actually approached me about it.

I actually had her son in my class, and she also did a lot of work with the school, doing afterschool clubs, doing different cooking demos, and experiences with students, and, one day, she approached me and said, "Hey, Julia, I know about this really cool project happening right now.

I think you would really really like it.

Would you be interested?"

And I said, "Sure."

She connected me with Erin, and we've been doing the lessons, these recipes that Chef Asata created, and then giving Erin feedback over the years.

- You know the recipe and you also know the ingredients, so you can make it at home, right?

- My name is Avyion Jackson and I'm a pre-K para.

This is my first year.

- [Interviewer] It's your first year doing this, but it's not your first year here.

- I started Drew in kindergarten, and I just graduated recently.

When I was in elementary school, we used to go to the cooking classes that was held by Chef Asata.

I used to be a picky eater too, but when I took her classes, it expanded it.

I wasn't a fan of, like, zucchini and bell peppers and stuff, but she really expanded that.

It's amazing to see them at four years old, like how excited they are to try new things.

So it's amazing to see that they're willing to try new things and just explore that.

I cannot wait to see them when they're older and just get to see who they become and see that I, like, influenced that.

I don't know.

Like, I'm just ready for that part.

(gentle music) - Today, I have a mystery item that actually is coming from the grocery store, from Publix.

- So we're all gonna take turns digging in the bag, and I want you to describe what you feel.

Does it feel rough?

Does it feel cold, warm, hard, bumpy?

- It's cold.

- It's cold.

Sawyer, what do you feel?

Is it rough or bumpy or is it smooth?

- It's cold.

- [Avyion] It's cold.

- [Interviewer] Tell me about having Ms. Jackson as a part of this team now and what that's meant to you.

- The fact that she has been here since kindergarten, and that she's actually been a part of those afterschool programs with Chef Asata and done this as a child and seen it from a child's lens, and now to see her turn it around and be the one executing these lessons and asking the questions and being a part of it is really beautiful.

You can tell that exposing her even to those different recipes made a difference for her and now she's bringing it back.

It's been really fun.

(lively music) Okay, Ms. Jackson, are you going to reveal?

- [Avyion] So what do you guys think that it is?

- [Children] Cucumber!

- A cucumber.

It is... - [Children] A cucumber!

- It's actually a zucchini, and a zucchini is in the squash family.

- [Child] Well, I thought it was a cucumber!

- [Julia] Ms. Jackson is gonna look at our recipe.

- [Avyion] A list of steps that we must follow to make our rowdy ranch dip.

- [Child] Yeah!

- [Avyion] These are called our what?

- [Child] Ingredients!

- Yes.

- Ingredients.

This is what we use to make it.

So are you guys ready?

- [Children] Yes.

- [Julia] Squeeze it.

Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.

- [Avyion] Go ahead.

Squeeze.

- [Julia] There you go.

Come on.

Keep going.

- [Avyion] You're so strong!

- One, two, three.

- [Child] Yummy!

- [Julia] What do you think?

Oh my goodness.

- Is it that good?

- [Children] Yeah!

- [Avyion] What does it taste like, guys?

How did you guys feel about this?

- It's good.

- Good.

- [Avyion] You guys are chefs now.

- You think you could make this at home?

- [Child] Yeah!

- Yeah?

- That means we could bring the hats.

(gentle music) - Having partners like Drew Charter Elementary School and teachers like Ms. Watkins is so critical for our program.

Small Bites Adventure Club is all about giving educators like her the tools that they need to make it really easy to lead food education in the classroom.

She reviews our materials, provides feedback, and gives us ideas on how to connect it to different academic things that they're working on.

You know, sequencing or math or science or literature, and even things like fine motor skills and developmental skills that are important for little ones.

(children chattering) One of the most important things we can do for children is expose them to new foods early on, all types of foods, and so a lot of times, kids can be really scared of new foods, particularly fruits and vegetables.

So the more we can get them hands-on experiences to smell and taste and feel these foods, the more comfortable they're gonna be, not just tasting them and eating them, but really loving them for the rest of their life.

- [Narrator] So, as the Small Bites Adventure Club close this fun, tasty, creative educational session in nutrition, these young minds and mouths seemed excited to have another go with whatever fruit or vegetable was put in front of them, in turn building healthy habits and crafty culinary skills for years to come.

(dramatic music) (vocalist humming) We now make our way over to Franklin, Georgia in the heart of Heard County to explore a few locally-grown items finding their way to our schools.

(idyllic music) When you think Georgia, you naturally think the citrus state, right?

Well, even though that phrase hasn't caught on quite yet, the simple fact is that Georgia grows all kinds of tasty, nutritious, and juicy citrus varieties, from grapefruit and lemons to limes and the fruit of the day here on "A Fork In The Road," satsumas.

Earlier this season, we met farmer and businessman Will McGehee, whose family business, the Satsuma Company, is one of many farms partnering with the Department of Education School Nutrition to bring healthy local fruits and vegetables into our schools.

- One of the most fulfilling parts of doing this is growing something in Georgia that hadn't been a part of our economy before, and then actually getting to take it into the school systems, and you know that children, pre-K all the way up through seniors, are getting to enjoy the fruits of your labor, and, you know, just all fuzzy, warm and fuzzy feelings about it.

- No doubt you've seen these Royal trucks roaming around the highways and back roads in Georgia.

Royal has been an invaluable partner with the Georgia Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Department of Education School Nutrition to deliver these fresh, locally-grown fruits and vegetables directly to our schools, and here in Heard County, Royal delivered juicy satsumas.

(gentle music) - In the recent years, we have made some changes to our choices.

We now offer three lunch entree choices to our students every day.

We offer three vegetable choices, two fruit choices, and three milk choices.

So they have a wide variety of fruits and vegetables and many choices every day.

- [Interviewer] And one of those options today, because it is seasonal, is the satsuma.

- [Livia] Yes, the satsuma oranges are absolutely wonderful oranges.

They are bright in color.

They are fresh, juicy, and delicious, and our students love to have the options of having fresh fruit every day at lunch.

(lively music) - I'm Kelley Toon, and I'm the academic nutrition manager for the Georgia Department of Education.

I have the opportunity to focus on food-based learning opportunities in the state of Georgia, so really the opportunity for us to make connections and utilize food as a tool to educate our students.

- [Interviewer] Working with companies like the Satsuma Company, for instance.

We're bringing in fresh satsumas.

When I grew up, I didn't know what a satsuma was.

That's gotta be exciting to expand the horizons and work with these local farmers.

- It's exciting to be able to see trying new foods and also being able to educate other people too when they get to go home and talk about it with their parents.

Sometimes, when kids are going home and talking about what their day was like, food is such an easy way to engage and connect, and what did you have for lunch today?

And when they get to hear about, "I tried a satsuma," maybe being able to talk to parents about those exciting new food options that they're trying and try it at home too.

- My name is Randal Dodson, and I am the school nutrition director for Heard County.

One of the reasons it's important here in a place like Heard County is we only have one grocery store and it's a small grocery store.

We're 20-plus miles away from wherever else somebody might have an opportunity to shop at.

We have 70-plus percent of our students on free and reduced meals right now.

Well, what I bring in offers these opportunities for students and children to see foods and produces and other options that are available that are locally grown that they're probably not seeing at home.

So not only does this help me expand their horizons and what they can eat, it helps me provide a very nutritious meal that is enabling them not only to behave better, study harder, get better grades, but go home with a full stomach.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Fresh local ingredients also inspire a little creativity when it comes to what the chefs can whip up in the kitchen.

- We have three culinary specialists now with the state of Georgia.

We are tasked with enhancing the culinary culture of school nutrition in Georgia, trying to K-12-ify anything we can, whether it's recipes, whether it's the skillset of the staff, whatever we can do to improve and make quality meals.

We're trying to use fresh fruits and vegetables whenever possible.

That way, they see that they're used to it.

If you can do something over and over again, it becomes the norm and the expected.

That's what you want on a regular basis from then on.

- [Interviewer] When I was in school years ago, the school lunches kind of had a bad rap.

What's it been like trying to transform that whole idea of school nutrition and school lunches?

- [Michael] For me, it's been like a calling.

This is the future of the world.

Quality food starts the engines going with these students.

They can't learn if they have empty stomachs, but if we give them the right things to eat, what they want to eat, they're gonna be able to learn, pay attention better in class, and then be able to do better in school all the way around.

- [Narrator] This is no easy task for the Department of Education and everyone else involved in making this happen.

Their vision is to offer these nutrition programs so every child in every Georgia school has healthy meal options every day, and watching these kids today provided a healthy dose of hope when it comes to kids accepting these nutritious options.

(dramatic music) (vocalist humming) We now journey up a few grades and a few counties east to Fitzgerald, where a few young entrepreneurs are flexing their muscles when it comes to business innovation.

(upbeat music) The stage is set.

The past champion on site to see who takes the prize this year.

The distinguished panel of judges are here to learn, offer advice, and most importantly, crown a new champion.

Welcome to the Foundational Leadership and Entrepreneurs Experience, known more simply as FLEX.

- We started FLEX in 2020, and this year, we have five schools who are implementing the FLEX program.

We trained them and gave them the resources to do the program, and then, today, you got to see the culmination of that.

They each brought their winners from their local programs to compete against each other and win the state championship.

- All five of these kids today went through their local competitions and they came out on top.

They all won a cash prize of $5,000, and then they come here for the finals here at Fitzgerald High School College and Career Academy today, and they're gonna win $10,000.

Somebody's gonna win $10,000.

- Lovelise is a persona of me.

I created this through art.

She first started as a character that I just used to express myself, and later on, I realized that I can not only express myself, but I can help other young ladies know that it's okay to be quirky and other people are like this too.

One of the biggest things I've learned is just describing my business in general.

I used to be very bad at it where I could talk and you would see my face light up, but you really wouldn't know what I was talking about, and as I've been in FLEX, I've learned to really organize my business and figure out who Lovelise truly is and what she really wants to do with her life.

- A portion of my winnings that I actually had from the last round of FLEX, I actually purchased a freezer so I could have more storage space, because, again, I'm having to share the storage space with the members of the community inside the canning plant.

I've learned from my business as well as other businesses.

I've met new people, I've made new friends, and it's just helped my business grow and it's gonna grow because of the exposure I've gotten through FLEX.

Being able to be on camera, just knowing people, having the crowd, being able to speak in front of people, it's been a really great experience for me.

(gentle music) - I talk about the next generation all the time.

These are Georgia-grown businesses.

These are Georgia-grown kids.

This competition invests in that next generation.

It helps encourage them to step outside of the box, to build a business, to be entrepreneurs, to find a way to be successful right here, not only in their hometowns, but in our state, and it was exciting to see that next generation kind of stepping up to the plate and and taking a new role and being willing to be involved in the business industry and being able to help our state continue to be successful.

- I've been working with high school students and career technical student organizations for over 20 years, and I will say this is the most impressive competition I have ever seen.

The students on the stage just wowed me with what they're doing, and at such young ages.

I'm proud of 'em.

I cannot wait to see them grow into the entrepreneurs that they are already and will continue to be.

- So, a year ago, I was able to compete in the FLEX program.

So I was able to pitch my business in front of a panel of judges and was able to win $5,000 worth of investment money into my business to help it grow, and so that's helped me to be able to grow it at Mercer University.

FLEX has allowed me opportunities that's opened up to do things that I never thought a kid from a two red light town could ever do, and FLEX just continues to open up opportunities for me even after going through the program and after graduating high school.

(audience cheers) - [Interviewer] Was there more glitter and steam last year or this year?

- Oh, I will say I'm a little bit jealous that I did not get the huge confetti machines and the geyser shooting up.

I did have confetti though, so it was still good.

- [Narrator] Submit a plan, start your business, and make a pitch.

It's a simple one, two, three formula, but it takes innovation, creativity, and determination to succeed in the end.

Even though there was only one first place trophy, everyone on that stage triumphed just by showing up.

It's encouraging to see high schoolers in this light, and it's even better to watch this FLEX competition grow every year in the number of schools participating, offering more and more students a chance to step in the spotlight and succeed.

(dramatic music) (vocalist humming) Let's now journey to the lush mountain peaks of Terra Incognita Vineyards in Clarkesville to meet a few folks who help keep our Georgia vines growing tasty grapes for wine.

(upbeat music) It takes patience, long hours, and a ton of research to make this final product.

Many states have had a headstart in the world of fine wine, but from the looks of it, and more importantly, the taste of it, Georgia wines are winning national and even world-wide awards for quality, but these vineyard managers and winemakers have not been alone in this endeavor, and this is what brought me to Terra Incognita in Rabun County, Georgia.

Here, I met Dr. Sarah Lowder, who's a viticulturist from the University of Georgia College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.

She offers research and advice to all of the wineries in this growing region and beyond when it comes to disease, bugs, and all of the various challenges farmers and winemakers face when growing and experimenting with different varieties.

Why is it important for these vineyards to have a viticulturist in the University of Georgia coming here to check things out for them?

- Well, especially with all that new and innovative things that all these growers are doing, sometimes it's good to have someone who can look at it from a more scientific perspective as well as ping people all over the country and being like, okay, we're having this issue.

Like, have you seen this?

I know you've done research on this.

What have you been seeing?

As the viticulturist, my focus is on the grapes themselves and trying to make sure that people can grow the grapes themselves, and so I can be a resource to help people that are growing grapes.

(idyllic music) This is Traminette.

This is a hybrid grape which was produced out of the breeding program at Cornell.

This is a personal favorite of mine.

I think they're absolutely delightful.

They're a hybridized version of a Gewurztraminer grape, which is a German, very floral European grape variety.

- [Interviewer] It's gotta be fascinating coming from Oregon that's a little more known for their wine, but coming here and seeing the different varieties and different challenges that they face.

- Absolutely.

We definitely face a lot of different challenges, but one of the things with Georgia is just it's a new and upcoming industry.

A lot of the interesting part, especially coming from an academic perspective, is getting to try all these new things and see what maybe doesn't work so well and what does work really well and getting to play with all the different varieties.

So, for this, I'm largely coming in and looking for some of our major foliar disease issues like powdery mildew and downy mildew, which are very unrelated but look and behave somewhat similarly.

(bright music) It is a beautiful county all over the place, but we're also at an elevation that we can still grow a lot of those European grape varieties, which are a little bit more of the classic grapes that people often think when they're growing wine that can make some just beautiful wines, but are a little bit more disease-susceptible, but you can still grow them out here and grow them out very well, and they have that wonderful Georgia characteristic.

The concept of terroir, it's a concept for wine that is really trying to bring the environment in, the growth environment of where the vines are sitting.

You get a lot of characteristics from the ground.

You get a lot of characteristics from the weather.

You get a lot of characteristics just from the situation that you've been growing out.

So, each area is gonna have a little bit of unique flavor to it.

- My name is John Scaduto.

My position is I'm an ag and natural resource agent for the University of Georgia, and my territory is Rabun County.

A lot of the agents, especially in the North Georgia area, are more generalists.

We don't really focus on one particular crop.

So we're able to reach out to those specialists at the University of Georgia to help us when we need help with specific crop issues.

Through experience, we can deal with a lot of those issues that arise ourselves, but we do have the luxury of being able to reach out to specialists in every discipline at the university.

Sarah is our viticulturist and specializes in grape production.

- [Interviewer] There is a lot of education that goes into it for sure, just learning all the different diseases, all the different types of grapes, and now hybrids.

- There's so much variety in grapes, which often you don't really get to see, especially in areas that kind of become known for their grape type.

We have a lot of wonderful grapes that grow very well here, but we still get to experiment a lot with a lot of the new ones, that it's been really exciting.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] So, from feeding young minds nutritious recipes they can bring home to share, to a group of state and local community leaders offering fresh, nutritious lunch options to our schools, add in a competition of entrepreneurial high school minds and a viticulturist from UGA helping a growing Georgia wine industry flourish, it's fair to say that there's a lot of good happening in the world of agriculture and education, meaning promising times ahead.

I'm David Zelski.

See you at the next fork in the road.

(upbeat music continues) - [Announcer] "A Fork In The Road" was brought to you by.

- I'm Tyler Harper.

As your agriculture commissioner, I have the honor of representing one of the hardest working groups of people in our state, our farmers.

That's why we invite you to take the Georgia Grown Challenge.

Try any Georgia specialty crop against any other state's produce, and you'll pick Georgia-grown.

♪ Picture perfect ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Hang the picture up on the wall ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ I see you shine from afar ♪ ♪ Yeah, to me, you are a star ♪ ♪ All right, baby ♪ ♪ It feels good, feels fine ♪ ♪ Take the feeling, pass it on ♪ ♪ Just pass it on ♪ ♪ Da, da, da, da, da ♪ - I'm Tyler Harper.

As your agriculture commissioner, I have the honor of representing one of the hardest working groups of people in our state, our farmers.

That's why we invite you to take the Georgia Grown Challenge.

Try any Georgia specialty crop against any other state's produce, and you'll pick Georgia-grown.