The Guilford County Center

As part of the eleven-county Piedmont Triad region, Guilford County is centered along the piedmont industrial crescent stretching from Raleigh to Charlotte. With a population of 421,000, Guilford County is ranked third in the state. Major cities include Greensboro (224,000) and High Point (86,000). The public school system serves 60,000 students, along with eight colleges, universities and a community college system that serve a total of 29,000 students. The county's traditional employment base of textiles, apparel and furniture has diversified greatly in the last fifty years. Capital investment of over $l.2 billion by new and expanding firms created 27,000 new jobs in the past ten years. An excellent transportation infrastructure, including two interstate highways, Piedmont Triad International Airport and available rail and truck service, has helped to solidify the county's position as a major distribution and transportation center in the Southeast.

Agriculture continues to be an integral part of Guilford County, creating a blend of urban and rural. The 2002 Agricultural income for the county was $84,472,594. Top commodities include field crops, nursery and greenhouse operations, livestock, and horses. The nursery and greenhouse industry is a rapidly growing industry which alone represents almost 50 million dollars. Farmers continue to look at alternative choices in order to diversify along with the traditional means of conducting business.

Each member of the Guilford County staff conducted an environmental scan which provided an overall summary of needs that should be addressed. Means of achieving this information included: surveys posted on our website, 1809 surveys mailed/faxed/emailed or hand-delivered to the public along with sixteen personal interviews.

The following needs and issues were identified through the scan process for programming in 2004 - 2005:

• water conservation and water quality
• education
• farming and agriculture
• urban sprawl
• taxes
• better housing
• health care costs
• unemployment
• assisting the elderly and economic development.

The Cooperative Extension in Guilford County is already addressing several of the issues as identified by our environmental scan - water conservation and quality, education, farming and agriculture, and assisting the elderly. Our role will be to continue to provide research-based information to the citizens of Guilford County via mass media, newsletters, electronic correspondence, seminars and individual consultations. Our office can not help with the issues of taxes, urban sprawl, health care costs, and unemployment as identified in the environmental scan. We will help as appropriate when asked for assistance from other agencies in addressing these needs.