Tag Archives: Georgia legislature

Georgia Sen. Lee Anderson Brings Four Decades of Farming Experience to the State Capitol

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Grovetown, GA |

Senator Lee Anderson has spent his entire life farming the same ground where he was raised — and that connection to the land is a defining part of who he is. But for Anderson, that was never where his sense of purpose ended. His background in agriculture laid the foundation for a life of public service, and for four decades, that’s exactly what he’s been doing.

“It goes back to my mother and my father and how they raised me. I love helping people. I love helping a true need, and I love helping a community move forward in the right direction,” said Anderson, who represents Georgia Senate District 24.

FIGHTING FOR FARMERS IN ATLANTA

While farming has brought Anderson no shortage of personal reward, he also knows firsthand the difficulties that come with it — and those realities stay front and center in his work under the Gold Dome.

“Everything is at an all-time low in terms of what we receive, and everything is at an all-time high in terms of expenses. Usually, one commodity would bring more to help offset the others that aren’t bringing a good price. But right now, everything is at an all-time low — and that’s what we’re trying to help address in Atlanta any way we can,” Anderson said.

EDUCATION IS PART OF THE JOB

For Anderson, fighting for agriculture in the legislature means more than casting votes. A significant part of the work involves educating colleagues who may have little familiarity with the industry — and he sees that as one of the most important things a farmer-lawmaker can do.

“We have to educate people in our profession, just the same way lawyers have to explain legal details to us, or doctors help us understand the medical field,” Anderson said. “We — the farmers — have to explain to our coworkers what’s really important. And what’s really important is that we provide the food and fiber for people. We put the food on the table, the shirt on your back, and the shoes you wear.”

FARM BUREAU: A VALUED PARTNER

That work of education and advocacy isn’t something Anderson does alone. He says organizations like Georgia Farm Bureau are among the most valuable tools at his disposal when navigating the legislative process.

“They help us educate the rest of the delegation. They give us a lot of information and details that we can present in agriculture committee meetings — and it helps with the budget process as well,” Anderson said. “Farm Bureau is just an awesome organization. I’ve been in it since I was probably seventeen years old, and over the years it’s been great.”

For Senator Anderson, the farm and the statehouse have always been connected — two expressions of the same commitment to community, hard work, and looking out for the people who feed the rest of the world.

By: John Holcomb

Rep. Angie O’Steen Brings a Farmer’s Perspective to Georgia’s State Capitol

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Ambrose, GA |

Agriculture wasn’t always part of Representative Angie O’Steen’s plan. But after marrying into a farming family in South Georgia, she quickly gained a firsthand appreciation for the industry — and the vital role it plays in rural communities across the state.

“I grew up in Jeff Davis County. I’m an only child, and I had never been on a farm before I married Danny,” O’Steen said. “I married Danny, went to nursing school, and started working on our farm — what I considered working, which was hauling tobacco for his daddy. His dad grew vegetables, peanuts, some corn, and tobacco.”

FINDING HER VOICE UNDER THE GOLD DOME

Now serving in the Georgia House of Representatives for District 169, O’Steen says those early experiences on the farm have shaped her perspective as a lawmaker and driven her to be a stronger voice for agriculture in Atlanta.

“I realized really quickly that there were a whole lot of relationships I was not a part of yet. Thankfully, I got placed on the Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee, Public Health and Rural Development — all of those. I’m a nurse by trade, so I speak those languages,” O’Steen said. “But I realized that agriculture really didn’t have very many advocates in Atlanta.”

RELATIONSHIPS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE

For O’Steen, effective advocacy means building relationships across the board — with colleagues from both parties, and even with the lobbyists who help inform legislation on complex issues.

“You have to make relationships on both sides of the aisle, whether Republican or Democrat. But you also have to make relationships with the lobbyists that are there,” she said. “In my experience, the lobbyists are our best friends, because you can’t be an expert in everything — even in agriculture. There are things going on in the state that I’m not aware of. When bills come up, they are great resources to help educate me and my colleagues on legislation that’s coming up, or even on concerns that may not be a bill yet.”

PROTECTING THE FAMILY FARM

At the heart of O’Steen’s work in the legislature is a clear priority: protecting the family farm. With economic pressures continuing to mount for farmers and producers across the state, she knows the stakes firsthand.

“We’re not growing very much cotton this year because you can’t afford to lose several hundred dollars an acre before you ever even start growing it — you’re losing money before you even get it out of the ground,” O’Steen said. “My priority would be taking care of agriculture and working with my colleagues in the House who speak my language, and figuring out what kind of policy we can create to ensure the future of the farm.”

For a lawmaker who came to farming by way of marriage and a nursing career, Representative O’Steen has become one of agriculture’s most committed voices in the state capitol — and for Georgia’s rural communities, that advocacy couldn’t come at a more critical time.

By: John Holcomb

Gathering Brings GFB Members Directly to Lawmakers

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Atlanta, GA

Once a year in Atlanta, grassroots advocacy comes to life as Georgia Farm Bureau members gather for a chance to hear about the important ag issues being debated and for a chance to meet with their representatives – something GFB President, Tom McCall says shows just how important the agriculture industry is to those that represent them.

“When we have this every year, it lets our people get to know their elected people and they can work together with them, and they get to know them and when they call them, they’ll listen to them more than they would if they was just somebody cold calling,” says McCall. “It’s people who are here on their own dime. They’re not getting paid. They left their farm, they left their business to come and support Farm Bureau and the policies that we push for.”

The annual event couldn’t have come at a better time as there are several bills this legislative session that would have a direct impact on the state’s agriculture industry, such as House Bill 189 – a bill that would increase haul weights by for trucks hauling agricultural goods – something Jake Matthews, Governmental Affairs Specialist with GFB says would be great for farmers and producers when transporting commodities that have variable weights.

“Currently in the state of Georgia, you can haul eighty thousand pounds on a five-axle truck,” says Matthews. “Agriculture for a long time, has been granted an exemption for that where they can actually haul up to eighty-four thousand pounds; that’s actually a five percent variance on top of the eighty thousand pounds, and what that’s for really is to account for just the unpredictable nature of hauling ag commodities. When you start getting into moisture content of certain commodities as well as fluctuating live-weight of cattle for instance, that variance is really important to make sure there’s some give there, for farmers and folks hauling their product, to have some give there as they can’t really tell how much that truck’s going to weigh unless they’re weighing it. So, having that variance is good to account for those sort of things.”

According to Matthews, the measure would also help create an even playing field with other states in the region.

“When you look at our surrounding and neighboring states in the Southeast, you got a number of states that have higher truck weights; allowable haul weights than we do. Some of those states, those higher weights are specific to agriculture, kind of how we have it here in Georgia right now. Other states, it’s across the board, so there’s definitely a little bit of variation to how different states do it, but if you look at it holistically, Georgia is behind on the amount of weight that we can haul as compared to our neighboring southeastern states,” says Matthews.

Matthews says the measure would also be more economical for farmers and producers when transporting their commodities – as more per load results in fewer trips.

“We believe that increasing those haul weights is really a direct benefit to farmers’ bottom line. If you can carry more on one truck, you’re going to be able to have fewer trips to move your product and like I said, that will be a direct benefit to farmers’ bottom line,” says Matthews.

By: John Holcomb