Tag Archives: sustainable farming

The Hidden Work Behind Growing the Perfect Christmas Tree | Inside Berry’s Tree Farm

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Covington, GA |

Come November and December, this Christmas tree farm will be bustling with people searching for the perfect tree for their home. However, what most don’t realize is the amount of time and energy that goes into growing them – a process that, according to Owner Chuck Berry, takes several years.

“When most people think of a Christmas tree farm, they just think of it at Christmas time. November and December are fun months and then after Christmas, the work begins. It’s just like any other crop; you have to plant it, you have to maintain it, and it takes, probably about five years for these trees behind us to make mature age where they’re ready for cutting. So, today we’re planting trees, we try to do that in January and February, try to get them in the ground and get them established before the drier months come. So, we’ll plant about thirty-five hundred this year, about four different varieties, and it takes them anywhere from four to six years to mature,” says Chuck Berry, Owner of Berry’s Tree Farm.

The process, which you can see here, is a methodical one, which Berry says helps them better maintain the trees and their farm, as each crop is carefully measured and spaced out.

“As you can see behind me, the trees are almost in straight rows and that’s just basically for maintenance purposes. We plant everything on an eight foot square, so you’ve got an eight foot row both ways. It just makes it look more uniform; easier to maintain with the tractor. We plant everything basically like a crop. Some farms might go back in between big trees and plant little trees; we plant everything the same size, so we push up stumps with the loader, clean the field, plow the field. It’s like planting corn or cotton, just we don’t get corn or cotton this year; we’ve got to wait five or six years for it to produce a Christmas tree,” says Berry.

As you can see, other than actually clearing the land, they do everything by hand rather than with machines, which Berry says helps them grow a better product.

“We plant everything by hand. I mentioned that we plan on eight foot squares, we don’t plant with a machine. We just get a better product if we can manually dig the holes. It looks like a daunting task, but with a good crew and good weather, we can plant close to two thousand trees in a day. Yes, we’re digging them by hand with hole diggers, but the land is prepared, and it doesn’t take much to dig a hole big enough to put a gallon pot in. So, it just pays dividends later on when everything’s in straight rows and we’ve actually put it in the ground one at the time,” says Berry.

According to Berry, once they get the trees in the ground, the hard part is out of the way, as he says Christmas trees are generally low maintenance.

“They pretty much hold their own once we get them planted as long as we’ve got ample rainfall in the Spring, then they do good. Most of the trees, drought doesn’t affect them very much. Most of the time they just go into a dormant stage. They don’t die, but you don’t get any growth. So, once these trees are planted, outside of maintaining with trimming or cutting grass, or spraying fungicide, once the stakes are there and they’re tied, they’re ready to go. So, it takes a lot of work, but to say that they’re high maintenance is probably not the case. The biggest thing to make a Christmas tree, a Christmas tree is the trimming. If we didn’t trim them twice a year, they would basically just look like an ornamental bush. It takes that trimming to make that shape and also make them thicker. So the more you trim, the thicker they get,” says Berry.

By: John Holcomb

Labor Shortages & Rising Costs: Can the H-2A Program Save U.S. Farmers?

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Atlanta, GA |

Over the next few months some of Georgia’s signature fruits and vegetables like peaches, onions and blueberries, will all be ready to come out of the field. And in order to maximize both quality and quantity, it’s essential to have a reliable workforce.

“You have to have enough labor there on the busiest day to get them harvested, get them packed. This is timely work. It’s so timely to have harvest at the right days. So, we’re always very conscious. That’s our number one issue behind probably weather is labor availability,” says Robert Dickey, Chairman of the Georgia House Agriculture Committee.

That’s where the H2A program comes in, as it helps supplement a small number of domestic workers, while also complying with stronger immigration policies.

“If we’re going to continue to feed America with American grown crops, vegetables, and fruits, we got to have a labor force. Unfortunately, we don’t have a domestic force to do that. And that is why we have transitioned to this H2A program. You see other industries desperately wanting that, with our shortage of labor in this country. And so, this has been a good program for us. It has kept us all one hundred percent legal,” says Dickey.

Despite their workers being documented, many Georgia farmers are hoping there can still be some compromise on the recent immigration crackdown.

“I hope the administration can look at the history of some of our workers from whatever industry they’re in, in this state who have been here for many, many years and contributed to the economy and have families here, maybe even homes and things. Maybe give them some pathway to citizenship, some legal status so they can continue working and helping our industries,” says Dickey.

Labor shortages aren’t the only concern, as growers have seen wages increase exponentially over the past few years, which has opened the door for more foreign competition.

“So far, we haven’t had any real issues, a few little hiccups but, that program has worked well. I hope it’s no changes to it other than trying to get some costs back in line. Those costs for us have gone up over thirty or forty percent in the last two or three years and just raising our grower cost to not be competitive with foreign imports. So, that’s one of our big concerns,” says Dickey.

And it’s a concern that will likely continue into the future, unless some changes are made to the program.

“We don’t have that labor and don’t have it at a competitive rate, it’s just going to make foreign imports from Mexico, Chile, and South America much more available to domestic grocery stores. There’s going to be less costs and our industry will just really go away if we don’t do something to stem it,” says Dickey.

By: Damon Jones

Growing Georgia’s Citrus Future: Innovation, Challenges & Expansion into Juicing!

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Tifton, GA |

In Tifton recently, citrus growers gathered for their annual conference. This year’s theme: “Growing Georgia’s Citrus Future” – a fitting one, as attendees got to hear from experts and industry professionals on how to keep the citrus industry thriving in the state for years to come.

“It’s not only a membership meeting, but it’s a conference to talk about the challenges that Georgia Citrus has had and just how we can work to cultivate success. And it’s important to come and, network, not only network but just hear about the latest innovation and technology and what other people are experiencing; that’s how you grow and that’s how you learn is to hear from others and try to not make the same mistakes and come up with ways to solve problems,” says Lindy Savelle, Executive Director of the Georgia Citrus Association.

One problem that’s on the minds of most producers is citrus greening, which has decimated more than eighty percent of Florida’s citrus industry, however there is research being done that will hopefully eliminate the disease and will greatly benefit the industry in Georgia.

“It was four or five years before we realized we had it. By then it had spread throughout the entire state and the Florida Department of Agriculture declared that it was not able to be eradicated. We were going to have to try to live with it. As we’ve seen, that has been very, very difficult to do. We do have a number of therapies, though, that are working, and these are therapies that we hope are going to keep our industry alive long enough to get to where this tree of the future, this resistant tree, or a tree that’s more tolerant is going to bail us out once and for all, but what I mean for Georgia is that you’re going to be the beneficiary of this long runway. In other words, you have many years before your disease is going to become endemic, if it ever gets to that point. And my message today was, don’t let it get there. Your goal needs to be eradication. You can still do it,” says Rick Dantzler, C.O.O. of the Citrus Research & Development Foundation.

However, despite those concerns, Savelle says growers are still optimistic about what the future holds for the industry, as she explained there is some excitement around expanding from just being a fresh fruit industry to possibly a juicing one.

“I just see that this industry in Georgia is going to continue to grow. Continue to diversify. We are likely going to have a window of opportunity to go into the juicing industry as well as the fresh fruit industry. Florida has become known more for its juice industry, whereas Georgia has been fresh fruit, but I see that kind of turning the corner a little bit. And it’s not only South Georgia, but it’s North Florida that we’re joining forces together to kind of make this a regional citrus industry and I think those are all good things. Anytime you can collaborate with another state and have a bigger footprint, that’s a good thing,” says Savelle.

By: John Holcomb

Georgia Corn Comeback? Farmers Prepare for 2025 Amid Rising Costs & Drought Challenges

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Tifton, GA |

After seeing a significant drop in acres of corn being planted in Georgia last year, those numbers look to be on the rebound in 2025, especially with the issues other crops around the state are experiencing.

“I think that given some of the constraints with some of the other commodities, that we’re probably going to see an increase in corn acreage this year. I have a prediction but we’ll see if it comes to fruition this year, but I think there’s going to be a significant increase with the crop,” says Nicholas Shay, Extension Grains Agronomist.

Despite seeing prices surge by more than thirty percent over the past six months, growers must still walk a fine line in order to turn a profit, especially with the ever-increasing cost of production.

“To navigate that, we have to try to really manage our input efficiency the best we can, and really go back to the drawing board and count our pennies to make sure that we’re being as efficient as possible with our agronomic management or crop management plan in that, for the season,” says Shay.

Another major issue for growers is the long periods of dry weather throughout the state each and every year. It’s a factor that should always be accounted for when planning crop management.

“I think we can bet that every single year, there has been some sort of level of intermittent drought that has occurred. And so, I think really staying on top of your nutrient management and understanding how a crop responds to drought or to a treatment or a fertilizer application that you’re going to apply in the growing season,” says Shay.

The biggest defense against drought conditions is to implement preventative strategies as soon as possible.

“We have to prepare that crop for those stressful environments instead of reacting to a common symptom entomology we may see in the field. If we’d be proactive and have a proactive mitigation strategy, then maybe we can alleviate some of that stress in the growing season, especially when it comes to drought,” says Shay.

With that in mind, it’s never too early to start preparing, especially with planting season right around the corner.

“Growers should obviously be focusing on making sure their equipment is ready, land preparation this time of year, making sure that they have a good plan in place to start the year as far as fertility, as far as weed management, preparing that ground. Then making sure that they have that plan A, plan B in place to be proactive in their approach to mitigate those midseason or early season stresses that we can almost expect are going to occur,” says Shay.

By: Damon Jones

Georgia Peanut Farmers Face 2025 Challenges: Weather, Yields & Market Outlook

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Tifton, GA |

With Georgia growing six times more peanuts that any other state in the country, keeping those farmers up to date on the latest research, technology and equipment is vital for the health of the industry as a whole. Events like the Georgia Peanut Farm Show help accomplish this by gathering all those involved under one roof.

“Number one, it’s very good information. It’s a chance for farmers to get together and rub elbows with their neighbors and friends that they may not have seen from people come from all over the state and the Southeast, but you also get to see the latest and greatest in machinery, technology, chemicals, and peanut production practices. We’ve got Scott Monfort is going to lead our production session, and we’ve got a seed session. It helps to just give us an opportunity,” says Joe Boddiford, Chairman of the Georgia Peanut Commission.

Even though the number of acres dedicated to peanuts in Georgia remain high, yields did take a major hit in 2024, thanks in large part to the unpredictable climate.

“Weather for the last two years have taken some yield from us. This past year has taken more than it has in a long time. You know, we lost some top end irrigated yields in ’23 of about a thousand pounds. This year, fifteen hundred pounds or better and across the state when you look at the state average, we didn’t move that much in ’23. We were at forty-one hundred and something. This year, we dropped down to thirty-eight fifty, and that’s the lowest we’ve been in twenty years,” says Scott Monfort, Extension Peanut Agronomist.

With that in mind, growers must now walk a fine line in 2025 between cutting costs and maximizing production.

“We know you need to make change. We know you need kind of cut back if you can, but the biggest thing is we know you need to make money. That’s the highest yields possible. And what we’re here trying to get them to understand is that it’s easy to say I’m going to cut this out, this out and this out. And that’s going to save me money, but in retrospect, every time you cut something, it’s going to affect your yield or potentially affect your control of a pest that affects your yield,” says Monfort.

The silver lining created by that drop in numbers is a potential for the prices to remain steady through these uncertain times.

“We did get lucky by not producing as much in the state of Georgia. So, that kind of helped us potentially. I’m not going to say it is, but it potentially did. If we would have yielded forty-one, forty-two hundred pounds, we know where we would be this year. It would be starting way low. I’m hoping that’s not going to be the case this year and we can at least keep that price up to where we can at least pay some returns back on our investment,” says Monfort.

As for advice to growers preparing for the new year, Monfort suggests working with your local county extension and sticking with the basics.

“The main thing is don’t forget your base programs. Make sure fertility, fungicides, pest management, lyme, calcium, the things you need to do, let’s make sure we do them and we’ll be okay,” says Monfort.

By: Damon Jones