Program sharing workshop for Agricultural Engineers working in the Southern Region. The group meets concurrently with Housing Specialists because Engineers have traditionally supported structural, energy, moisture control, and other engineering related areas of human housing.

This meeting is a combination of two former ECOP sponsored workgroups; Southern Region Plan Exchange Workshop which met biennially, and the Southern Region Extension Ag Engineering Workshop which met triennially. The Plan Exchange was a group of Engineers and Housing Specialists who worked together to develop Residential and Farm Structure plans to be shared among states and submitted to the National Plan Exchange at Maryland. That program was phased out, building plans have been discontinued, and the meetings subsequently combined.

The Ag Engineering workshop has always been a meeting of broader scope for all the traditional areas of Ag Engineering (power and field machinery, ag structures and environment, crop handling and processing, soil and water, energy, water quality, etc.). It has served as an excellent forum for idea exchanges. Young specialists will find no better place to meet their peers and older specialists find an excellent opportunity for discussion on specific and timely problems.

The last meeting was in 1998 at Memphis, Tennessee with approximately 65 people in attendance. At that meeting, it was agreed that the meeting needs to be held biennially in order to keep up with rapid changes in the knowledge base and reorganizations in colleges throughout the Southern Region. The next meeting, scheduled for Savannah, Georgia already has 78 registrants from all 13 states in the Region and promises to be a productive and well attended meeting.

Extension Agricultural Engineers
Extension Housing Specialists

Extension Water Quality Specialists
Extension Energy Specialists
Extension Safety Specialists
State Climatologists
Others as invited or who wish to participate

LEADERSHIP:

Current Chair for Engineering Program:
John Worley
Extension Ag Engineer
University of Georgia
Current Chair for Housing:

Jorge Atiles
Extension Housing Specialist
University of Georgia
Immediate Past Chair (1998 meeting):

John Langston
Extension Ag Engineer
Arkansas

Administrative Advisor:
Ray Humberd
Associate Dean
Tennessee

Meeting Frequency and Usual Time of Year: Biennially, in the fall.

Date and Location of Last Meeting: 1998, Memphis, Tennessee
Date and Location of Next Meeting: September 10, 11, 12, Savannah, Georgia
(1 day technical tours, 1 ½ days program)
Years of Existence: Over 30 years
Sunset Date: None planned at this time

John Worley
University of Georgia
August 21, 2000