At least 32 Heards now stand to collect a total of $6 million in compensation payments from the government if Congress proceeds with plans to abolish Depression-era federal peanut quotas.
"We're hardworking, family-oriented people native to this area," peanut farmer Chad Heard said of his native Scottish clan whose immigration dates back to the 1700s. "I have many relatives I haven't met. For several generations, farming is all we've done."
The proposed quota buyouts have been hotly debated in coffee shops and country cafes in Georgia towns like Vienna (pronounced Vi-ANN-uh), which sponsors the Big Pig Jig Barbecue Cookoff; Warwick, site of an annual Grits Festival; and Ashburn, home of the Fire Ant Festival.
But Chad Heard, who farms 1,300 acres near this town of 700 about 250 miles south of Atlanta, is for it.
"I don't approve of the low buyout price, but I don't see an alternative. I think our congressmen did as good as they could," he said.
Heard could receive at least $45,648 over the next five years as compensation for 91,296 pounds of quota, according to Agriculture Department date compiled by the Environmental Working Group, a research and advocacy organization. He believes the amount should be $1 per pound, instead of the 50 cents to 55 cents proposed by lawmakers.
The nation's largest individual quota holder, Glenn Heard of Brinson, about 30 miles southwest of Newton, would receive $1.5 million in compensation for 3,040,126 pounds.
He was in Memphis, Tenn., for a cotton conference and not immediately available for comment. But Don Koehler, executive director of the Georgia Peanut Commission, described Glenn Heard as "the epitome of why folks come to America."
"He's worked hard for all he's got, and he's done it with integrity," Koehler said. "And he knows which end of the tractor you get on to make the thing do some work."
Glenn Heard's father owns RG Heard Farms Inc., also in Brinson. In the buyout, Heard Farms would collect $1,033,058 for 2,066,116 pounds of quota.
Glenn Heard and his father are Chad Heard's cousins. They also are the cousins of Jerry "Joe" Heard and his sons Jerry Jr., 35, and Jeff, 33. Jerry "Joe," Jerry Jr. and Jeff, also quota owners, grow peanuts and run the Five-Points Peanut Co. 13 miles west of Newton.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/3/197977