Georgia’s annual agriculture tour rolls into Baker County

NEWTON — University of Georgia President Jere Morehead and state Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black conducted their fourth annual Agricultural Tour in south Georgia Wednesday, getting a first-hand look at the Plantation Seed Conditioners/Ag South Genetics facility in Baker County.

A subsidiary of Mixon Seed of Orangeburg, S.C., Plantation Seed produces and conditions wheat, oats and soybean seed for sale throughout the Southeast.

“We represent growers such as Monsanto, Pioneer, Bayer and Syngenta and are basically a crop-producing service,” co-owner Jimmy Clements said. “We get truckloads of seed, clean them, sort, condition and bag the seeds and sell them to farmers.”

Morehead said the annual ag tour gives him the chance to emphasize UGA’s strong ties to the state’s ag industry, which pumps $74 billion a year into the state’s economy.

“There’s nothing more important to the University of Georgia than its linkage with the agricultural industry,” Morehead said Wednesday. “This tour gives the university a chance to showcase what the university does for the agricultural industry and how important that industry is, not only to the state today but to the future of the state. It represents an opportunity to show we are committed to the ag industry and will do everything we can to strengthen that commitment.

“For me personally, it is an educational experience, and the most consistent message I hear on the tours is people saying we need more of your graduates.”

Black, who was elected as agriculture commissioner in 2011, agreed with Morehead.

“I think trips like this show the cooperation between our department and the University of Georgia,” Black said. “Every farm and ag business in the state is touched by UGA. We never want to lose sight of the fact that it is a land grant university.”

Dougherty County Commissioner Harry James was among those in the tour group.

“I do some farming, nothing much and no row crops,” James said. “But I represent a large farming population in my district. I’m here to represent that constituency because it’s important to know what’s going on in the ag industry. It’s the no. 1 economic driver in the state of Georgia, and a large percentage is in south Georgia.”

Black said the tour is an important part of the relationship between the Department of Agriculture and UGA.

“We are excited to continue our spirit of cooperation and education with the university through the coordination of our annual farm tour,” Black said. “President Morehead has been extremely responsive with his deep commitment to the agriculture industry, and these tours have been a great opportunity to open the communication channel between our farming community and those who support it.”

According to state ag department numbers, Georgia’s top five commodities remain broilers, beef, cotton, eggs and timber. Georgia also leads the nation in peanut and blueberry production. One in seven Georgia residents works in forestry, agriculture or related fields. In 2012, there were 42,257 farms in Georgia, a total of 9,620,836 acres of land. The average farm size was 228 acres.

As an aside, Clements asked the group on the tour if they knew how many days a grocery store’s stock would last if there was a run on the average store in the state.

“Three days, then the shelves will be empty,” Clements said. “Most people don’t consider how that food got on the shelves to begin with. Thank a farmer.”