HROUGH AGRICULTURAL H DEVELOPMENT GRICENTER In the heart of Perry, Georgia, where Interstate 75 cuts through the geographic center of the state, sits a 1,100-acre facility born from a father’s frustration with the dismal conditions his children faced while showing livestock in the 1980s. Larry Walker, then a state legislator, approached the Georgia General Assembly with a modest proposal to renovate existing facilities. The legislature had a bolder vision. “Instead the legislature said, no, let’s just start from new,” explains Stephen Shimp, executive director of the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter. In 1985, the state established the Georgia Agricultural THIS PERRY FACILITY PROVES THAT INVESTING IN YOUTH AGRICULTURE DELIVERS MEASURABLE RETURNS. 96 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 13, ISSUE 01
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