Georgia farmers gather to commiserate over tough year

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Posted 3:36PM on Tuesday, December 3, 2002

JEKYLL ISLAND - Georgia farmers are meeting this week to talk about changing farm policies and commiserate over a year most would rather forget. The Georgia Farm Bureau's annual convention opened Sunday night and was scheduled to conclude Wednesday. Farmers suffered through a fifth straight year of drought this summer. But when steady rains finally arrived this fall, it hindered the harvest of cotton and peanuts two major cash crops. ``It's been a challenging year,'' said Don Koehler, executive director of the Georgia Peanut Commission. ``Yields are down 25 (percent) to 30 percent. We've had some farms that were devastated.'' Drought, disease, insects and the costs of fuel and fertilizer aside, peanut farmers and their rural communities also were hurt by government interpretations of the farm bill, Koehler said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is setting the repayment structure for loans so high that farmers can't compete with imports, Koehler said. Farmers who borrowed money at $355 per ton of production should pay back $290 per ton, the world market price, and keep the rest to offset costs, Koehler said. Instead, the Agriculture Department is asking for nearly $330 back per ton, he said. Many of the farmers at the annual convention on Jekyll Island predicted they would be the last to farm their land. Their children want no part of it. ``Go in that room and look at the heads,'' Lowndes County farmer George Biles said of the convention hall. ``A bunch of old, gray heads.'' But there are some bright spots for agriculture, and that includes an upside for low prices. ``Cheap prices make you move cotton. We're moving a lot of cotton overseas,'' said Louie Perry, chairman of the Georgia Cotton Commission. That makes room in warehouses for next year's cotton, which Perry said should bring better prices. Wayne Dollar of Thomasville ran unopposed Tuesday for a fifth two-year term as president of the Georgia Farm Bureau.