Farmers thankful for agriculture relief package

DOERUN — Southwest Georgia farmers, along with state and federal officials, gathered on Friday to celebrate an event — the passage of a relief package for Americans whose lives were upended by natural disasters — that should have been simple but was months in the making, primarily because of today’s political environment.

The group that included Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, U.S. Sen. David Perdue and U.S. Rep. Austin Scott of Tifton — all Republicans — was made bipartisan with the presence of U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany.

The disaster aid package, signed Thursday by President Trump, includes money for states hard hit by natural disasters, from California’s wildfires to Hurricane Michael in the Southeastern United States as well as Puerto Rico.

About $3 billion of the $19 billion disaster aid package will go to farmers impacted by floods and hurricanes.

“This might be the best week in Georgia agriculture ever; we got disaster relief and we got some rain,” farmer Bart Davis, who hosted the event at his operation near Doerun, said as he addressed an audience of several hundred gathered underneath an open-sided metal equipment building.

It’s not just farmers who will benefit but also the businesses that depend on their spending in their communities, speakers said. That includes stores and auto dealers, as well as banks, and equipment and seed companies that extended credit so they could plant this year’s crop.

“This is going to mean a lot for the rural economy,” Davis said.

With the long wait over, “Help is on the way,” Bishop told the audience. “This is not a Democratic issue, this is not a Republican issue. Together we’ve been able to come together and make it happen, and now there will be relief.”

The disaster assistance should be implemented “in weeks, not months,” Sonny Perdue said. “(We) hope to have dollars in your pockets so you can continue farming.”

A lot of farmers had extended themselves with loans to get their crops planted this spring, Davis said during an interview following the remarks from elected officials.

“They’re sitting on that debt,” he said. “Hopefully, this will get us back to where we need to be. It really means a lot to the farmers.”

The action taken by Kemp and Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black to provide money for those impacted by Hurricane Michael was “unprecedented” and helped bridge the gap before federal money was earmarked, Leary farmer Jimmy Webb said during an interview following the program.

“Those loans they got out were big,” he said. “(Ultimately), I think we need to have more affordable crop insurance somehow.”

Farming – including row crops like peanuts and cotton, timber, pecans, vegetables and agriculture-based tourism – is the largest industry in the state and accounted for more than $13.79 billion in revenue to farmers for their products in 2017, according to the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, which prepares a farm gate report each year.

That figure does not include other payments, including crop insurance that farmers received.

The passage of the disaster relief package is the first step for the state’s farmers, Black told an Albany Herald reporter.

“It’s about time,” he said. “I kind of look at it like it’s the first event of a triathlon. Now we’ve got a 100-mile bike ride.”

Staff Photo: Alan Mauldin
AlanMauldin[email protected]
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Alan Mauldin
AlanMauldin[email protected]
https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f714026fc83d6150ab9a4350b4169940?s=100&d=mm&r=g