Tag Archives: input costs

Georgia’s Right to Repair Law Gives Farmers More Control Over Equipment Ahead of Harvest

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Albany, GA |

For Georgia farmers, equipment downtime is both frustrating and expensive — which is why new Right to Repair legislation is a welcome development with harvest season just around the corner. Under the new law, John Deere, which holds more than half of the large tractor market, will grant independent mechanics access to electronic repair tools and diagnostic software. It’s a necessary step given just how sophisticated modern farm equipment has become.

“The MOU simply allows independent mechanics or a farmer to have access to the computer and understand what the codes mean so that we can repair our own equipment,” said Clay Pirkle, President of Georgia State Inspection Services. “The problem for farmers is it can be something as simple as a two-dollar sensor. But unless you have the diagnostic ability to identify what the problem is, you can’t repair it. And most of the problems we see on the equipment are somewhat minor.”

MORE OPTIONS MEAN LOWER COSTS AND FASTER FIXES

Having more people qualified to work on their equipment will benefit Georgia farmers on two fronts: more competitive repair rates and, equally important, fewer delays.

“When you increase the universe of people that can repair your equipment, two things happen. One, it will happen cheaper — prices to the consumer always fall. And just as important as being competitively priced is the time factor,” Pirkle said.

TIMING COULDN’T BE BETTER

The legislation comes at a critical moment for growers who are about to push their tractors to the limit during harvest — the narrowest, highest-stakes window of the entire farming year.

“As farmers, we have a perishable product and a narrow window to get the crop out. I cannot afford a two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar piece of equipment to sit during the biggest part of the year that I need it,” Pirkle said. “When I have this window to harvest a perishable crop — the most important time of the entire year — I cannot have that equipment down.”

RELIEF ON ONE FRONT IN A TOUGH YEAR

The stakes are even higher considering how much money Georgia producers have invested in their crops — and how hard rising input costs have squeezed margins throughout 2026.

“The price for fertilizer, chemicals, diesel — everything we purchase has gone up. And everything we sell has gone down. Margins are squeezed,” Pirkle said. “We could use relief on many fronts. But this is a good start.”

For Georgia’s farmers, the Right to Repair legislation won’t solve every problem facing the industry — but heading into harvest season, having more control over their own equipment is a step in the right direction.

By: Damon Jones

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

UGA Hosts Inaugural Southeastern Specialty Crop Technology Conference in Tifton

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Tifton, GA |

From drones spraying crops to robots scouting fields, technology has become a constant presence in Georgia’s number one industry. To help growers make sense of what’s available — and what actually works — the University of Georgia recently hosted the inaugural Southeastern Specialty Crop Technology Conference, giving attendees a firsthand look at the latest research and development shaping the future of agriculture.

“The reason behind the conference is to bring growers, academia, students, and the industry together and see how we can bring these technologies to the Southeast — and how they can actually help growers be more efficient, more sustainable, and more economically successful,” said Luan Oliveira, Precision Agriculture Specialist with UGA.

A CROSSROADS FOR AGRICULTURE

The timing of the conference couldn’t be more relevant. Producers across the region are navigating record-high input costs while working with an ever-shrinking amount of available farmland — a combination that makes efficiency not just beneficial, but essential.

“Agriculture is at a real crossroads across the country, but particularly here in the southern United States. We have got to come up with ways to more effectively produce the food and fiber to feed a growing world,” said Dr. Michael Toews, Associate Dean for Extension at UGA. “This is the opportunity for us to introduce some of those technologies to our growers that will adopt them and allow us to get over that hurdle — and mind you, that’s on less and less land each year. So we have to get more and more efficient, as well as meet that growing population. It’s critically important that we continue this march forward.”

DATA BEFORE THE DECISION

That march forward does come with a higher startup cost — which is exactly why events like this one matter. Producers can evaluate the latest data before committing to new technology, weighing both performance and return on investment.

“Agriculture is a highly scientific field, and it is critically important that we look at all these new technologies — not just from the perspective of how well they work, but the scalability, so that we can use them to feed a growing country,” Toews said.

Oliveira echoed that sentiment, noting that ROI remains one of the most pressing questions for growers considering adoption. “How reliable is it? What is the return on investment? When is the ROI? Is there an ROI? How much is the return on a machine like that?” he said.

EFFICIENCY THAT ADDS UP

For at least one technology on display, the numbers are starting to make a compelling case. Field robots like the Leaf Deck may move slowly — topping out at one to two miles per hour — but the savings they generate in chemicals, labor, and fertilizer tell a different story.

“What we’re talking about here is truly efficient — on chemical savings, on labor savings, on fertilizer savings. That’s the efficiency we’re talking about,” Oliveira said.

THE FUTURE IS ALREADY HERE

For UGA’s agricultural leaders, the conference also served as a reminder of just how far the industry has come — and how central technology has become to staying competitive.

“Agriculture and technology are almost synonymous. You have to be invested in technology in order to stay in business,” Toews said. “First and foremost, farmers are businessmen. In order to stay productive, you have to constantly be looking at what the next attribute is going to be that will allow your farm to continue to produce food and fiber for a growing world. Agriculture today is about sensors, controls, and satellites — we have some of the most cutting-edge approaches going on right now.”

For Georgia’s growers, the message from Tifton was clear: the technology is here, the data is growing, and the farms that embrace it will be the ones best positioned to thrive in the years ahead.

By: Damon Jones

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 Corn Growers Struggle to Market Bumper Crop

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Brinson, GA |

Nothing says Summer like fresh, Georgia sweet corn, and producers here in the southwest part of the state are hard at work getting this season’s crop out of the field and to market. This year has been a good one for producers as the great growing season has led to great yields and great quality.

“So far, the growing season has been really optimum. We’ve had mild temperatures and very few hard rains, so it’s going good. Really high yields; yields are good, the quality is good, we’re having a really good growing season,” says Glenn Heard, Owner of Heard Family Farm.

However, according to Heard, Florida growers have also had a good season, which has caused a surplus in the market, which means they’re having to leave some of their crop in the fields unharvested.

“Typically, we overlap with Florida some and usually one or the other of us, have production issues, but this year we didn’t. They had good corn and we had good corn, so now we’re having a marketing problem because we got too much good corn in both places. When we have a bad market, we cannot harvest all the corn, so that corn is destroyed. Now, we try and stay up on maturity, so we maintain good quality and we have to skip. When it gets too old, we skip that and go to some new corn,” says Heard.

According to Heard, another issue they’re dealing with is the cost of their needed inputs, which have skyrocketed in the last few years and has inflated their cost of production.

“It’s corn, so, it needs a lot of fertilizer and water, probably more than any other crop we have, but other than that, we have a lot of insecticides, we’re not allowed to use GMO corn, so we have to control all the pests and insects with insecticides and we have to do it on a regular basis, too. The input cost is just overwhelming us with the market prices we’ve had to endure the last few years,” says Heard.

Heard says that the weather has also been a concern this Spring, as too much rain can take too much out of their soil and storms, particularly wind, can completely ruin their crop.

“If we get the right amount of rain, that’s good, but if we get too much, with our sandy soil, it leeches our nutrients out, so we have to replace every time we get big rains. What worries us the most about storm systems is wind; if sweet corn gets blown over at any time during its growing season, it generally will not produce a quality ear,” says Heard.

By: John Holcomb