Tag Archives: Robert dickey

Lynn Smith Named 2026 GFB Commodity Award Winner for Decades of Water Policy and Agriculture Advocacy

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Tifton |

Long before she became one of the Georgia legislature’s most respected voices on agriculture and natural resources, Lynn Smith was a kid growing up in Florida with a love for the outdoors — and a habit of going out to dig and grow things whenever life got hard. That instinct, it turns out, was a preview of a career defined by a deep belief in the balance between people, the land, and the resources that sustain both.

This year, that career earned her Georgia Farm Bureau’s 2026 Commodity Award — recognition for decades of advocacy and stewardship that left a mark on Georgia’s water policy, agricultural legislation, and the communities that depend on both.

A BALANCED APPROACH TO TOUGH ISSUES

“She’s very protective of our natural resources — our water, our coastline, and all the things that make Georgia great. But she also wants to take private property rights into consideration. It’s a real balance to how Chairman Smith has approached every issue that has come across her committee,” said Robert Dickey, Chairman of the Georgia House Agriculture Committee.

Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns echoed that sentiment, describing Smith as someone who could always be counted on when conversations got difficult.

“Lynn has always been one of those people you could count on when the chips were down and the conversation got very difficult — she was willing to stand her ground and ensure she still took the opportunity to protect what she knew was important,” Burns said. “That was people, their livelihoods, but with a main focus on balancing the interests of people — how we make a living and how we provide for others — while also protecting this great Earth and these resources that we have been given.”

FIGHTING THROUGH THE WATER WARS

Much of Smith’s legacy is rooted in Georgia’s long-running water policy battles — a contentious multi-decade fight that pit regions of the state against each other over one of the state’s most essential and contested resources.

“We were the four people who were steady throughout the water wars — Tom McCall, Bob Hanner, Richard Royal, and myself,” Smith said. “Water doesn’t know its boundaries. And the piece of legislation I am most relieved passed — it didn’t happen until 2008 — was the resolution that meant we could go forward with all the decisions we had been working up to. It was the bridge that gave our state agencies the tools they needed.”

That legislation — helping create the framework for the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District — represented years of patient, often contentious work. For Smith, it was the payoff for refusing to treat a shared problem as a territorial battle.

“Think of cowboys and Indians — nobody was going to let go of what they had,” she said. “My point is, we needed to start solving problems. I put my heart into what I did, and I was a problem solver as opposed to a problem creator.”

A CHAMPION FOR AGRICULTURE WHO UNDERSTOOD BOTH WORLDS

For GFB President Tom McCall, what made Smith so effective as an agriculture advocate was precisely that she came from outside the farming world — yet chose to go to bat for it anyway.

“Lynn understands that you eat three times a day, you wear clothes, and you live in a house made out of two-by-fours. That’s the importance of agriculture and forestry in this state,” McCall said. “Anybody that maybe has a different perspective or was raised differently than all of us — and will still go to bat like Lynn did for agriculture — is going to be missed.”

For Smith, the award is a reflection of the people she served alongside as much as the work itself — legislators, advocates, and farmers who believed, like she did, that the right people at the right time could find a way to move forward together.

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

Legislators, Peach Producers Discuss Disaster Relief for Peaches

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Fort Valley, GA

Consumers will be seeing a lot less of Georgia’s signature fruit on shelves, as more than ninety percent of this year’s peach crop was lost after growers endured a late freeze just as their trees were starting bloom, which leaves them in a tough spot heading into the future.

“We’ve had several poor crops, and this year is the worst crop in thirty years, and we’re just pretty devastated about trying to get through this,” says Robert Dickey, Chairman of the House Ag Committee. “We’re needing to plant more acres and carry our trees until next year. So, hopefully we can get some disaster relief funding to supplement our other income.

It’s a call for help Georgia Senator, Jon Ossoff is hoping to answer promptly, in order to keep the state’s number one industry running strong.

“The federal government and US Department of Agriculture have a role to play in ensuring that farmers and growers in Georgia and across the country who face this kind of risk and put their livelihoods and their resources on the line every year with uncertainty about tough weather and other things that can impact their crop,” says Senator Ossoff. “The federal government has a role to play in providing smart, targeted disaster assistance.”

It’s an issue Ossoff says he will push hard for once back in the nation’s capital, despite some of the pushback it is likely to receive.

“What I want to do is, as we move through the appropriations process in congress, see if we can appropriate targeted, smart disaster relief funds for Georgia’s peach growers. Of course, you know, as polarized and divided as the political environment is these days, it’s tough to get things done. but my job is to represent all Georgians, including Georgia agriculture. So, I’m going to work to try and get this done,” says Ossoff.

That assistance is vital for the peach industry and its future, as crop insurance isn’t near enough to cover this type of devastation.

“It’s tough. We’ll have to borrow lots more money to make it until next year, and it’s, it’s a whole twelve months until, until we get income again,” says Dickey.

“That’s an emergency situation where the existing programs may not be sufficient and targeted relief may be necessary. So, while the existing crop insurance programs can be helpful, sometimes you need supplemental help when you have a situation that is as dire as this one. And it’s in our state’s interest and our nation’s interest to ensure that farmers stay on their feet,” says Ossoff.

In turn keep the state on its feet as this disaster has far reaching implications on the entire economy here in Georgia. [Robert]

“We’ve got processors that cannot do the processing, consumers looking for Georgia peaches. We’re losing our customers. They’re going to other fruits and vegetables. We’re doing a lot of mail ordering now, and we’ve got regular customers that can’t receive their peaches. It’s just a cascade of issues and problems that we are facing this year. Not to mention trying to keep our trees healthy and going until next year,” says Dickey.