Southwest Georgia farmers face headwinds heading into 2024 planting season

MORGAN – It’s spring, and the southwest Georgia fields are alive with the sounds of tractors as the 2024 planting season shifts into high gear.

As farmers around the region prepare for a crop year with a lot of question marks, with low prices and increasing production costs, the crops still must go into the ground. Weather conditions have caused some delays, Calhoun County Extension Agent Luke Crosson said.

“We’re kind of getting toward the tail end of corn planting,” he said. “(We’re) starting to get a little bit of cotton in the ground, and peanuts.”

For much of the area, those are the big three in terms of crop rotation. That is not going to change for 2024, Crosson said.

But southwest Georgia farmers also produce of a wide range of farm commodities, from broilers and cattle, to pecans, broccoli and tomatoes, to blueberries and zucchinis.

In Calhoun County, two farmers planted blueberry acreage a couple of years ago, and there are now about 22 acres.

“We do have some blueberry production in the county,” Crosson said. “Over in (adjacent) Baker County, it’s getting a little bit bigger. It’s good to see some of that happening in the region.”

Heading into this year, the financial picture is looking bleak. Cash receipts for crops and livestock are estimated to drop from $507 billion in 2024 to about $486 billion in 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Overall, the estimate for net farm income could be down by more than 25%, from $155 billion in 2023 to $116 billion for 2024, according to the agency.

Farmers face a double whammy this year of low prices for row crops and increased production costs.

“Inputs are up, so nobody’s overly optimistic with prices being down the way they are,” Crosson said. “They’re looking to cut costs every way they can. They’re sharpening their pencils every way they can.

“They’re looking at (University of Georgia Cooperative) Extension to help them out with that. We’re doing everything we can.”

Agriculture is Georgia’s largest industry, and the 2022 total farm gate value for the state’s farmers was $18.33 billion, according to UGA’s Farm Gate Value report. The state’s five largest crops that year were chicken broilers at $6.67 billion, cotton at $1.3 billion, eggs at $960 million, peanuts at $790 million and timber harvesting totaling $780,000 million.

Staff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]