TYLER HARPER: State leaders must address obstacles that hamper farmers

When you sit down to order your favorite meal at a restaurant, or stop by the grocery store to pick up fresh vegetables or produce for the week, or buy a shirt from your new store, you probably don’t think about everything that went into making those things a reality. However, chances are you can trace that dish, piece of produce, or T-shirt’s roots in some way back to a rural Georgia farmer or producer.

Agriculture is Georgia’s No. 1 industry, the backbone of our economy, generating more than $74 billion in annual economic impact while employing roughly 400,000 hard-working Georgians. Our state is a leading producer of poultry, peanuts, timber, blueberries, eggs, cotton, and watermelons — just to name a few. Our farmers provide a healthy, nutritious, and reliable food source, and their work has an incredibly positive impact at every level of society.

Our farmers and Georgia’s agricultural industry keep us going. They provide the food, fiber and shelter that sustains our way of life on a daily basis, and have continued to do so throughout a global pandemic. But the challenges facing our farmers are unlike anything they have ever experienced before.

From a lack of access to capital and technology, to rising input costs such as high fertilizer and fuel prices, to strict regulations and uneven playing fields for trade, their obstacles are significant. These obstacles are compounded by bad policies that have driven up input costs, diminished labor supply, and shrunk the family farm’s share of the retail dollar to a record low.

This in turn creates a domino effect that creates record high prices at the gas pump, grocery store, and virtually everywhere in between while also making us more vulnerable and reliant on foreign countries for our food, fiber and shelter. In short, when our No. 1 industry faces challenges without the support of strong public policy and leaders who understand the industry, our quality of life at every turn suffers.

However, with challenges come opportunities. We must focus on lowering input prices that make going to the grocery store less expensive. We need to put our farmers and producers first by leveling the playing field and ensuring they can compete on the global stage — because, at the end of the day, food safety and food security are national security issues. Simply put, agriculture is national security, an industry that impacts every Georgian every day, and for our state to be successful, agriculture must remain successful.

For us to do that, we must work to ensure we are providing as much of the food, fiber and shelter for ourselves, within our own borders, as possible. We also do that by protecting the family farm. With 98% of farms being family-owned operations, it is imperative that we support those farms, ensuring a stronger national security.

Too many young farmers, operators, and entrepreneurs still struggle to break into the industry and take on the profession. We need to look at addressing that by expanding access to capital to make it easier for people to enter the work force and grow our industry. These are just a few of the opportunities that exist to expand our agriculture in our state, equip our farmers and producers with the tools and resources they need to succeed, encourage new and beginning farmers to enter the industry, and lower costs and deliver sustainable outcomes for Georgia families and consumers alike.

Georgia has been the best state to do business in for nine years. In order to maintain that ranking, we have to invest in our state’s No. 1 industry to ensure that Georgia has a safe, reliable food supply for generations to come. Quite simply, agriculture’s success is our state’s success. With strong public policy and public servant leaders who not only understand the challenges and opportunities facing our top industry but are willing to tackle them, I’m confident working together we can do just that.

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