Whitesburg, GA |
The nation’s top agricultural official recently paid a visit to one of the country’s premier sod farms in Carroll County, joining state leaders for a roundtable discussion and farm tour. For U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, it was both a unique and gratifying experience — and one that came with a significant announcement for Georgia’s cattle and meat processing industries.
“For you, Mr. McQuarter, and your family — to see and live and experience what you have built here — this is the American Dream, sir, and you have lived it in full,” Rollins said during the visit. “In the year and a half I’ve been in office, this is the first sod farm I’ve been able to visit and understand just how really important this work is to our country.”
With Carroll County being the state’s second leading cattle-producing county, it made for the perfect backdrop for a major policy announcement: Georgia has finalized a Cooperative Interstate Shipment agreement with the USDA, allowing state-inspected meat processors to sell their products across state lines for the first time.
“Georgia has just become the eleventh state to enter a Cooperative Interstate Shipment agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This means that Georgia’s state-inspected meat processors can now ship their products across state lines using the USDA seal of inspection — without cutting any corners or sacrificing any food safety standards,” Rollins said. “This is a huge opportunity for the twenty-three state-inspected plants here in Georgia and certainly for the Georgia cattlemen that rely on those twenty-three plants.”
The announcement carries particular weight for an industry in which just four major companies currently process eighty-five percent of the nation’s meat supply — two of them foreign-owned. The new agreement opens up fresh markets for small and mid-size processors and the producers who depend on them.
“The cattle industry across the nation has been faced with four major processors, only two of which are owned by U.S. producers — the others are foreign owned,” said State Representative Jutt Howard of District 71. “This announcement allows two hundred and forty small and medium-sized processors in Georgia to ship their products around the nation. Getting back to the small American producer — that’s what helps our state and helps everyone in this nation with food security.”
Beyond the announcement, the visit gave Secretary Rollins an opportunity to hear directly from state leaders and producers about the challenges facing Georgia agriculture — from poultry and cattle to the timber industry that underpins much of rural West Georgia’s economy.
“Poultry, cattle, and the timber industry are such an important part of the number one industry in our county,” Howard said. “There was a keen focus and sincere determination from the Secretary to listen to farmers — to get back to the producers and what makes American producers successful, which will ultimately make American agriculture successful.”
For Georgia’s cattlemen and small meat processors, the Cooperative Interstate Shipment agreement represents more than a policy change — it’s a new door opening at a time when the industry needs it most.