The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) generated a statewide economic impact of $899.3 million in 2024, marking a fourth consecutive record-breaking year for contributions to the state’s economy.
Divided among the arms of the college's tripartite mission of teaching ($265.6 million), research ($258.8 million) and outreach ($374.9 million), the total impact of CAES in 2024 was third highest among schools, colleges and units at UGA, factoring into the university’s total economic impact of $8.4 billion in the same year.
The 2024 total represents a 7% increase over 2023, when CAES had an economic impact of $838.4 million.
Teaching, research and outreach fuel growth
CAES research and public outreach, the latter done primarily through UGA Cooperative Extension, saw significant growth, said report author Michael Adjemian.
“The university and the college engage in a lot of activities that have an economic impact in the state,” said Adjemian, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. “We are a publicly funded institution, and it is important for us to justify the value of the services we provide for those funds.”
As a land-grant university, UGA is mandated to use its personnel and resources to benefit the state’s citizens through instruction, research and public outreach.
“UGA generates economic impact by increasing the human capital of Georgia residents through education and training programs, by attracting external funding for research and outreach programs, through inventions and discoveries that lead to new products and businesses, and through improved business and government practices that arise because of university research and outreach programs,” said CAES Dean and Director Nick T. Place.
The long-term impact of university research
While the value of teaching is reflected in the earning potential of CAES graduates, research has a multi-pronged impact, including attracting external funding to the state, generating discoveries that lead to new products and businesses, and job creation spurred by those businesses.
Because there is a long lag between when research is conducted and when the impact is felt in the economy, it is difficult to estimate the economic impact of individual research programs. However, research findings are often used by policy and decision-makers in the government and private sectors to improve their choices.
“Basic research serves as a foundation for later discoveries made by private companies. Many times, these companies base their patents on earlier work done at the university level, so for us as a university it is important to quantify the value of the work that we do,” Adjemian said. “We’ve conducted this report for 10 years, and it is a wise practice for those who take some part of their funding from the public.”
Why measuring economic impact matters
The report is designed to provide an objective measure of the university’s economic impact, and the totals represent a conservative estimate of what CAES contributes to the state, Adjemian explained.
“There are many activities we engage in that are hard to quantify, but our goal is to present a defensible lower bound of the impact we have in the state,” he said.
To learn more about CAES research and its impact in the state of Georgia, visit caes.uga.edu.
For more information on UGA Extension's outreach across the state, visit extension.uga.edu.
