Tag Archives: farm policy

Georgia Ag Issues Summit: Lawmakers Tackle Rural Challenges Ahead of 2026 Session

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Perry, GA |

As Georgia lawmakers gear up for the 2026 legislative session, agriculture leaders and industry professionals recently gathered in Perry for the annual Joint Agriculture Committee Chairmen Ag Issues Summit. Hosted by Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Russ Goodman and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Robert Dickey, the event served as a platform to discuss both ongoing concerns and opportunities within Georgia’s largest industry.

“It’s a joint summit between the House and the Senate,” said Senator Goodman. “Chairman Dickey and I are the co-hosts of it and really just bring in people from across the state that are involved in the agricultural industry or extension, or people that have an interest in the industry, and come together and talk about issues, have guest speakers, and find out what our challenges are, what our opportunities are, things that we’re doing well.”

Goodman emphasized the importance of learning from university and extension professionals, noting the summit is essentially “about all things ag.”

For Representative Dickey, the event also plays a critical role in educating colleagues who may not have direct ties to farming or rural life. He says the summit helps bridge that knowledge gap between ag leaders and state lawmakers.

“Chairman Goodman and I are certainly up to speed on a lot of these issues, but so many colleagues are not,” Dickey explained. “That is the kind of information we need to get out to the rest of our colleagues in the House and Senate and the Governor’s office—what the problems are with agriculture in Georgia, what the challenges are that we need to be working on. And there’s lots of them. Rural Georgia and agriculture are facing a lot of headwinds right now.”

Among those headwinds is economic uncertainty—something Senator Goodman says threatens the future of many family farms. He believes public policy needs to be shaped with generational survival in mind.

“Right now, ag is struggling in a lot of ways with commodity prices,” Goodman said. “We’ve seen cost of input come down, but as you heard Dr. Dorfman say, they quadrupled, and now they’re just double what they were pre-COVID. Moving forward, it’s just going to continue to be about making sure we’re implementing public policy that hopefully enables the next generation to continue to farm.”

That message was echoed by Dickey, who says when agriculture suffers, the entire rural community feels the impact.

“Our rural communities are really suffering,” he said. “High cost inputs for farmers, low crop prices—a lot we can’t do on a state level. But we’ve got to support those communities, those rural ag communities, to have the infrastructure, to have the diversity that those communities really need. Agriculture is the largest industry in those counties. When ag constricts, it really puts a burden on our school systems, our roads, and those types of things.”

By: John Holcomb

Georgia Farmers Advocate for Relief & Reform at State Capitol

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Atlanta, GA |

Recently in Atlanta, Georgia Farm Bureau showed off its grassroots strength as nearly 600 members attended this year’s GFB Day at the Capitol event – an annual gathering full of advocacy, education, and fellowship between members and their legislators.

“As a true grassroots organization, that is what we’re here for. We’re connecting the constituents and our members back home with their elected officials so they can hear directly from the experts what kind of hurdles they’re having to deal with on the farm. And there are thousands of bills that get introduced every year, they cannot be experts on every topic. So they rely on not only the folks that represent organizations, but especially when we can bring the members here directly so they can hear from them,” says Alex Bradford Director of Public for GFB.

Of course, the timing of the event couldn’t come at a better time as there are several ag issues being discussed this year; the main one being Hurricane Helene Relief, like increasing funding for the Safety 24 low interest loan program that would put money into farmers’ pockets.

“The Georgia Development Authority is overseeing the safety twenty-four low interest loan program. So one of the things we’re doing is advocating for more funding to be made available through that loan program so that low interest loan offers producers the loan at two percent, which is, well below market rate right now. Helps get them some cash quick as they begin the rebuild process and prepare and plan for this coming up growing season,” says Adam Belflower, GFB State Affairs Manager.

Another huge Hurricane Helene Relief measure comes with House Bill 223 – a bill that aims to provide relief to the sixty-six counties under disaster declaration: First and foremost, it would exempt state income tax on federal disaster assistance. Second, it would create a reforestation tax credit for all trees in the commercial production of timber, food, or wood products. Lastly it would provide a sales tax exemption for building materials for poultry houses and livestock barns – all things Belflower says would be great for the ag sector, but says they’re still working to find other helpful relief measures.

“There’s some other ideas in the chambers right now of what we can do to build on the work that’s already happening. So we’re working with members to try to see what the best path forward is, just to provide relief for our folks,” says Belflower.

Another big issue being worked on this year is tort reform as insurance premiums have undeniably gotten out of control, which has left small businesses, farmers, and their operations in a vulnerable position.

“What we’re seeing is it becoming more and more expensive to get insurance, access to insurance for some of these people that carry really high liability coverage, for different things whether that might be commercial trucking, different businesses in general. And really on all Georgians, it’s driving up the cost of doing business, and it’s driving up the cost for just everyday insurers to keep that coverage that they need. But overall, the goal is to drive down the cost of doing business and to ease a burden on Georgians that are really just constantly getting hit with skyrocketing insurance rates, small business owners, farmers that are constantly at threat of a lawsuit,” says Belflower.

By: John Holcomb

Georgia Farm Bureau Unites County Leaders to Strengthen Agriculture Advocacy

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Perry, GA |

Georgia Farm Bureau recently hosted more than one hundred and fifty county presidents from all over the state under one roof – an event that’s meant to facilitate the chance for county, grassroot leaders to fellowship, communicate, and learn more about the organization they are representing on a local level.

“Everything we do and everything we advocate for starts at the county level. At the local level, it doesn’t come from top down, it comes from the counties up. Which is why we say we are the grassroots organization, for agriculture in Georgia. So when you get all of the people from all over the state together in one place where they can talk to each other, and they all got similar problems, they all have some of the similar solutions. And, when they can talk to each other and maybe sit in some of these breakout sessions that we’re doing, it speaks some ideas that they can take back home, or they can tell us how they want things to be done as a state organization,” says Georgia Farm Bureau President, Tom McCall.

Of course, being a grassroots organization that is the voice for the state’s ag industry comes with an active and engaged membership, which is why during one of the breakout sessions, county presidents were educated on the political landscape and empowered to become advocates and promote advocacy efforts back in their counties.

“Legislators, they are very busy people and it makes the most difference when they can put a face with a name behind an organization. So when we have this huge member base behind us and more members reaching out, calling, even texting, writing, or hosting events and meeting those legislators face to face, then it creates more of a physical community for them to connect with rather than sending a letter and then maybe just seeing a signature or a bunch of signatures and a bunch of names,” says Amelia Junod, GFB Advocacy & Policy Development Specialist.

Of course, having engaged members that advocate is vital to the future of the industry and the organization, however, one important part of that is having a unified and consistent message for those outside of the industry and organization to hear.

“We know that consistency builds credibility and as an organization that’s been around for more than a hundred years, we’ve got a lot of credibility already, but there’s still so many people that don’t know who we are and what we do as an organization. It’s our hope that we can empower these really talented, grassroots level leaders, to go out and have those conversations with prospective Farm Bureau members, and having consistency in that messaging helps to ensure that whether they’re joining in North Georgia or South Georgia or middle Georgia, that they understand that Farm Bureau is the trusted voice of agriculture; that we serve farmers and ranchers and rural communities of all types, that they understand that we support one another, that we speak with the united voice and that we give back to our communities. We do that because everyone depends on a successful American agricultural system, and it’s our job as Farm Bureau to work alongside farmers and ranchers to make sure that our food, fuel and fiber, supplies are safe, sustainable, and secure,” says Austin Large, Senior Director for Membership & Organization Development for AFBF.

By: John Holcomb