Takeaways
- Consistent growth: The 2025 figures mark the fifth consecutive year of increased economic contributions to the state, totaling a 3.8% rise from the $899.3 million reported in 2024.
- Three-pillar impact: The nearly billion-dollar total is fueled by the college’s tripartite mission: Extension ($365 million), teaching and instruction ($287 million), and research ($281.6 million).
- UGA Extension in action: CAES remains the top contributor to Extension and outreach within the university. While these figures represent a conservative “lower bound” of value, they account for roughly 10% of UGA’s total $9.2 billion impact on the state.
The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) generated a statewide economic impact of $933.7 million in 2025, marking the fifth year of increasing contributions to the state’s economy.
Divided among the arms of the college’s tripartite mission of teaching, research and Extension, the total impact of CAES in 2025 was third highest among schools, colleges and units at UGA, factoring into the university’s total economic impact of $9.2 billion in 2025, according to the report’s author, Michael Adjemian.
Breaking down the impact
The CAES economist explained that the $933.7 million total is derived from three core functional areas:
- Extension and outreach ($365 million): This represents the largest portion of the college’s impact. These figures include the work of UGA Cooperative Extension, which provides research-based expertise and profit-increasing benefits to farmers and businesses across the state.
- Teaching and instruction ($287 million): This impact is measured by the increased lifetime earnings of CAES graduates — the “human capital” value of their degrees — as well as the economic activity generated by out-of-state and international students.
- Research ($281.6 million): CAES generates significant value through external federal grants and contracts, as well as discoveries that lead to new products, businesses and licensing royalties.
The 2025 total represents a 3.8% increase over 2024, when CAES had an economic impact of $899.3 million.
What CAES contributes to Georgia
“CAES makes so many important contributions to the state economy, and many are hard to measure. Our objective is to estimate a lower bound for the college’s economic impact. For example, quantifying the actual effect of research on the state economy is challenging, but our method of arriving at the minimum impact is to measure the dollars that our researchers bring into the state from external funders,” said Adjemian, a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics.
“We likewise include the likely impact of startups tied to research, royalties and licensing fees,” he added.
As a land-grant university, UGA is mandated to use its personnel and resources to benefit the state’s citizens through instruction, research, and Extension and outreach. While fulfilling this mission, the report explains that UGA creates positive net economic impacts that benefit the entire state.
Strengthening Georgia’s communities
CAES provides vital services that improve the efficiency of the state’s agricultural sector. Beyond the quantified totals, the report highlights the college’s role in:
- Business efficiencies: Faculty and staff provide training and consultation that lead to higher profits and more jobs for Georgia farmers and foresters.
- Innovation: Research expenditures lead to the start of new companies based on UGA-led innovations.
- Youth and civic capital: Programs like Georgia 4-H are recognized for creating significant social value and enhancing the quality of life for citizens, although their full economic impacts are often challenging to quantify and are considered part of the “lower bound” of the college’s true value.
The big picture
While the economic impact of Extension in 2025 was quantified slightly lower than in 2024 — $365 million in 2025 compared to $374.9 million in 2024 — Adjemian said the dip is not particularly significant, “especially when compared to the 2023 value of $336.5 million.”
“CAES remains, by far, the college with the highest outreach impact at UGA. And its overall impact on the state continues to rise each year,” he said.
To learn more about CAES research in the state of Georgia, visit caes.uga.edu. For more information on UGA Extension’s impact across the state, visit extension.uga.edu.
