Author Archives: John Holcomb

Spalding County Farm to Table Operation a Passion for the Weeks Family

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Griffin, GA

They say that big things come in small packages. That’s certainly the case for this roughly three-acre farming operation in Spaulding County, where customers have been coming for years to get the freshest meat and produce, along with a few more unique items. It’s both a business and passion project for owners James and Tammy Weeks.

“Seven years ago, she and I met, and we were looking for a place to buy and we bought this place. Before that, I’ve been in the cattle business with my dad and I was also in the dairy business with my grandfather and great grandfather. Just all my life I’ve just done agriculture,” says Owner of Nu Sunrise Farms, James Weeks.

Despite growing and raising just about everything on this farm, literally nothing goes to waste, as they either sell or repurpose everything that is produced.

“We use the milk for making soaps and lotions, we use the manures that they give off, just like the chickens and rabbits, and use that as compost. We use that in our gardens instead of using chemicals or pesticides. We also make jams and jellies off the berries that we don’t sell, that way we can reuse them. Everything pretty much gets used that we’re growing out here,” says James.

Even though Tammy didn’t come from the same agricultural background, there is no less passion in her work, as she is responsible for making the soaps, lotions and jams.

“I’ve been in the dental field my whole life. You have to be an artist to do that. So, I’ve always had a high art interest, I guess. So, anything that I can create is a fun thing for me. It’s not that hard. It’s just work, you know. If you’re willing to put in the work, you’re going to have a great product,” says Tammy.

Those products continue to fly off the shelves in the general store, not only because of the unique scents, but also the benefits they provide for skin.

“Goat’s milk is an anti-inflammatory. It’s very soothing on your skin, plus obviously, the olive oil and the coconut oil are extremely good for your skin. So, the combination of it all, it’s very moisturizing and your skin feels totally different than Dial and all that when you’re done with it,” says Tammy.

So, it’s no surprise that this small operation casts such a wide net, as visitors from all over the state pay it a visit throughout the year.

“We get people from Atlanta, North Georgia, Gainesville, Savannah, South Georgia. I’ve had people that were on vacation going to Florida, they stop by here because they pull us up on Google maps. They type in farmer’s market and they see us, and they stop by here and get more than just a farmer’s market,” says James.

That includes the personal aspect, as both James and Tammy are more than happy to share their story with visitors in order to motivate them to give agriculture a second look.

“The biggest thing about a three-and-a-half-acre farm here is we want people to look and see what they can do. When they come through that gate, we want them to leave here inspired; inspired to go home, grow a garden. Go home and say, ‘hey, we need to relook at our life and maybe buy us a farm,'” says James.

By: Damon Jones

Farming for this Family is Truly a Family Affair

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Macon County, GA

It’s a warm, sunny day in Macon County, and the sounds of a busy farm fill the air. From high above, rows of lush crops stretch as far as the eye can see, while in these buildings, chickens cluck and scratch for every last bit of feed. These are the sights and sounds the Tarrer family has come to know and love. And love, is what keeps this family together. 

“It is really special. We work together every day. My mom fixes lunch for us every day and many times at supper has the whole family up here,” says Jason Tarrer. 

“We work together with twelve poultry houses and we are able to take some time off when we do have chickens – go take it easy, take a little vacation, do some of the things we want to do, and let others tend to the chickens. When Jason leaves, we take care of his. When Daddy leaves, we take care of his. It’s just, it’s a good setup that we have,” says Scott. 

The story of the Tarrer family is one of courage, determination, and spontaneity. In 1971, Tony and Linda Tarrer were living outside of Atlanta, and enjoying successful careers at Delta Airlines. Linda, a flight attendant, Tony – a Computer specialist. But one day after visiting family, Tony had an idea, that involved Ideal.

“We had come to visit his parents. We had driven down, and going back, Tony said something about, ‘what if we were to move to Ideal?’ And I said, ‘ideal?’ He said, ‘yeah, let’s, let’s talk about it and think about it.’ He said, ‘we wanna raise a family, what do you think about moving there?’ And by the time we got back to Atlanta, we had decided we wanted to move there,” says Linda.

After two or three years of living up there, the country life didn’t seem so bad after all. I loved my job, and we could fly anywhere we wanted to, but like she said, going back and forth one night to Atlanta, we mentioned about moving down here. My father and brother were building homes and I said, ‘well, that would give us a little bit of money and if we could build a couple of chicken houses.’ And that’s what we did,” says Tony. 

At a time when farming was becoming increasingly difficult due to changing markets and technological advances, the Tarrer’s were undaunted. They invested everything they had in their chicken houses and worked tirelessly to make them a success.

Today, their operations are thriving, and they’re known throughout the area for their high-quality production and Birds. So much so, that in 2020 Jason was Tyson’s producer of the year for the South Georgia Complex. Linda, on the other hand, undoubtedly emerges as the driving force behind the entire operation.

Despite being in her seventies, she pilots a tractor with ease, and anchors everyone with her unwavering determination – and no matter who you ask, Tony, Jason or Scott, they all agree, Linda possesses more drive and grit than all three combined.

“We couldn’t do it without her,” says Scott. “We’ve had occasions where she’s had other plans when we’ve been placing chickens and one of us has to get back on the tractor, pull it up a little bit, we start dumping chickens again, stop the tractor, get off. And it’s just a cycle. And it just works a lot better when everybody’s working together.”

“I’m so blessed to have the family that we have because, there’s a lot of families that just don’t get along at all,” says Tony.

So in a world where so many people are disconnected from the land and from each other, the Tarrer family is a reminder of the power of hard work, determination, and sacrifice. It’s a story that inspires and encourages others to pursue their own own dreams, no matter how difficult they may seem, because quite frankly, the Tarrer’s are living the American Dream. 

“I’m seventy, I just turned seventy five, and Tony will be seventy-seven in September. Our health is wonderful. We’re very blessed with our children, our health. That’s not to say what tomorrow might bring. You’re only promised today. I just thank God for everything we have,” says Linda. 

“To be with your family and to work hard, be involved in our local church – that to me is the American dream. Doing what you love and loving what you do,” says Jason.

By: Ray D’Alessio

Precision Agriculture Conference Aims to Advance Agriculture Industry

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Athens, GA

With the rise of input costs, challenges with labor, and many other issues that arise, farmers and producers are looking for ways to be as efficient as possible on the farm. To help with that, the University of Georgia created the Institute for Integrative Precision Agriculture and recently gathered researchers, industry professionals, and producers together to begin working towards solutions for those issues.

“A year ago, the University of Georgia created the Institute of Integrative Precision Agriculture. We have fifty-six members, and we hope to get them integrated with our farmers and our industry people, to be able to solve the pressing and current problems that we have. So, this is a forum to exchange ideas, to form teams, and start working on these problems,” says George Vellidis, a professor at UGA. 

During the conference, attendees got the chance to hear from several speakers, one of which was Jessica Kirk, who helps run her family’s farm in Tifton. Kirk spoke about the need for innovation and how it could help them on their farm.

“We are a diversified farming operation. We grow about 6500 acres of produce year-round. Everything from watermelons and cantaloups to fifteen different varieties of specialty peppers. We have a greenhouse operation where we grow around 275 to 280 million, transplants that we ship out all over the United States and then we have a pine seedling operation where we go about 90 million pine tree seedlings,” says Jessica Kirk, Vice-President of Food Safety at Lewis Taylor Farms. 

Kirk says one of their biggest challenges on the farm is labor, as most of the work they do has to be done by hand due to technology and machinery not being advanced enough. 

“Everything we do from transplanting that product from our greenhouse into the field to the harvesting process which goes from our field, into our packing facility, all of that is done by hand. It can’t be done with machinery that we currently have, the technology has not made it to where we need it to be um, for produce, because the standards that grocery stores have, um, will not allow for things that are harvested with machinery to come in. It damages the product too much, so in the end, you end up losing product instead of getting into market. 

According to Kirk, the issue that comes with so much manual labor and the reason they’d like to see innovation, is the cost of that labor, as wages have increased drastically; this year by fifteen percent alone. 

“With the cost of workers, the H-2A workers we bring in rising so tremendously over this past year, about fifteen percent, anyway that we can use in the field from planting, putting those transplants in the ground, laying plastic, to um, in our greenhouse operations where we have, um, all of our trays where we have to sanitize them, where we’re using our machinery to make sure everything is planted properly into those trays to put into our greenhouses, all of those are bringing in, you know, more people and it costs more money, so anyway we can lower those costs, by adding innovation, by adding other systems that can do it much more quickly and maybe with less people would be a win-win for us. 

By: John Holcomb

Glenville Hosts Sweet Onion Festival

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Glennville, GA

There was no shortage of food, fun and floats in the small city of Glennville, as they recently celebrated another successful harvest with their 47th annual Sweet Onion Festival. And the thousands in attendance were treated to not just all the festivities, but also a chance to catch up with old friends and family on this special weekend.

“Well, they’re going to get an opportunity to socialize, get some Vidalia onions or some Glennville onions, whatever you want to call them and just socialize with their neighbors and friends here,” says Wayne Dasher, Chairman of the Glennville Sweet Onion Festival. “Every, community, every family needs a family reunion, so to speak. So, here, it’s Mother’s Day weekend. What a better day could you have to bring all the folks in to visit their families and their mothers and show honor to them and come to the Glennville Onion Festival and get some treats for them or some gifts.”

Even though Glennville might not have their name on the bags at the grocery store, it is actually the birthplace of Georgia’s official state vegetable.

“The original onion originated in Glennville. There was a man from New York that brought the onions down and married a local woman here and started growing them here fifty years ago,” says Dasher. “Piggly Wiggly Southern was in Vidalia and they were the ones that bought the onions. And on their bags, they furnished the bags, and they had on there the sweet onions, the pride of Piggly Wiggly Vidalia, Georgia. So, that’s where it picked up the name from.”

While this event is designed to recognize all the hard work that goes into producing this world-famous product, it’s also shining a spotlight on just how much impact the entire agricultural industry has on this community.

“There’s a lot of economic growth out of it. You know, the workers that are here, the people that these larger farms – Bland Farms, G & R Farms, two of the largest growers here in the county, each one of them probably employs two hundred people each. You know, we’ve got other industries here. We’ve got the Rotary Corporation. They’re the largest manufacturer of lawn mower blades in the world. They have about three hundred employees total all over. It’s just an opportune time to come and share this fruit with our neighbors,” says Dasher.

By: Damon Jones

Georgia Cattlemen’s Association President Dedicated to Organization, Industry

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Blairsville, GA

For Joe Garner, this farm here and this herd of cattle is a lifelong dream that, after many years, has finally become a reality. Garner, who’s family had cattle when he was younger, has always longed to have a herd of his own someday and now that the day is finally here, he says it’s nothing short of a blessing.

“I got my interest and my feet dirty in the garden,” says Joe Garner, President of the Georgia Cattlemen’s Association. “I started driving a tractor when I was in the eighth grade. We still put up hay and those kinds of things, but the cattle, they made a decision when I was five, to market the cattle. And so, I yearned for that day to cattle to come back into my life from that moment. So I started showing calves, steers, eventually showed some heifers throughout late middle and high school, and I guess it’s always been a dream to have a farm. It’s really a blessing to have a place like this.”

In 2014, Garner decided to get involved with the Georgia Cattlemen’s Association at the local level, where he has since served in various roles, the most recent of which is state President – something he considers an honor as he wholeheartedly believes in the organization and its mission to advance and advocate for the beef industry and serve the cattlemen of Georgia both in the field and Atlanta.

“The Cattlemen’s Association is charged to educate our producers, to help with marketing in some ways. We also have a strong legislative component where we actively follow bills and legislation through the process, each forty-day session there at the State Capitol,” says Garner. “It’s really a critical link for all of us, not just the cattle producers, but all farmers in general, to kind of keep some of that legislation at bay that may cause us undue harm, because they don’t see it from our angle. They don’t understand the implication that food and fiber doesn’t just happen at a grocery store. Food and fiber happens out here in the field.”

Not only does Garner believe in the Cattlemen’s Association, Garner also believes in the power of beef and says that it’s a wholesome, renewable product that not only feeds people, but enhances their lives by what beef cattle and beef cattle operations have to offer.

“Beef is a wholesome food. It is packed with many vitamins and minerals. It’s a firm source of protein and it is renewable. It allows us to keep the green space that is critical for all of our lives across the state. You know, many people may not own cattle, but I would venture to say a majority of people enjoy cattle out grazing in a field. They enjoy that green space. And that to me is a critical piece to the quality of life for all Georgians,” says Garner.

By: John Holcomb

Significant Decline in this Year’s Peach Crop

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Musella, GA

This time of year is usually a cause for celebration for peach growers. However, there won’t be too many smiles this year as freezing temperatures late in the growing season have them harvesting just a fraction of their overall crop.

“We’re kind of estimating somewhere between twenty percent, twenty-five percent of a crop, something like that, and that varies by variety,” says Lee Dickey, Owner of Dickey Farms. “Most of the damage was done kind of early in the season to the early May crop, but we have peaches all along. So, you know, in terms of kind of local peaches, they’ll still be peaches but in terms of, you know, shipping to major grocery chains and this kind of thing, it’s just going to be very slim.”

While temperatures have been colder in previous years, this is the worst damage growers have seen in quite some time due mainly to the freeze showing up at the worst possible moment.

“You know, the stage the peaches were at this year when the freeze came, that’s really what caused most of the damage. We had peaches this big in some varieties, and once they are past that bloom stage, past the shuck split, they’re very, very susceptible to damage. Any light frost uh, can really harm the peaches there,” says Dickey.

And just like that, growers see a year’s worth of planning, pruning and patience take a major hit, which leaves them with plenty of frustration.

“Yeah, it’s very disappointing, very disappointing. We were hoping for a great season this year, looking forward to picking a lot of peaches. So, you get all the way there, right? You’re not quite to harvest, but you’ve done a lot of work and so, it’s certainly disappointing in terms of not having the fruit you hoped for,” says Dickey.

However, the silver lining is the peaches that do make it onto the shelves will have the same kind of quality consumers have grown to expect.

“Right now, peaches look good. They’re growing,” says Dickey. “I think they might be a little bit early this year, so, I mean, that’s one thing we’re watching now and being able to communicate with people and buyers is timing, but overall, peaches look healthy, look good. The trees look great. It’s just not many on there.”

That will obviously have an impact on the market as demand for sweet, Georgia peaches is unlikely to fall, while the supply will be severely limited. That means shopper might have to pay a little more this year to enjoy Georgia’s signature fruit.

“Prices are going to be higher this year just based on limited quantities and just the short crop, but we’ll have peaches in our market all season long. We just won’t be shipping out and packing as many peaches as we normally do,” says Dickey.

By: Damon Jones

‘Wetter & Cooler’ Conditions Expected in Southeast this Fall

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Watkinsville, GA

With Spring inching more towards Summer, producers will soon be finished getting this year’s crop in the ground and will begin shifting their focus towards harvest. However, getting that crop to harvest successfully depends on mother nature which, has already given many farmers and producers a wild ride so far this year.

“What we’ve seen is that the temperatures have been above normal, and a lot of that has to do with how warm February was,” says Pam Knox, Agricultural Climatologist with UGA Extension. “You might remember February was really far above normal. Everything was blooming early, and it caused problems later for the fruit farmers, because then we went into a cooler period in March where we had a couple of frosts, and that really caused some problems, especially peaches, but some with blueberries as well. Precipitation wise, most of the state has gotten a decent amount of precipitation. Probably the driest part of the state right now is the southwest part.”

According to Knox, the southeast has been in what’s called a la nina weather pattern the last three years; meaning conditions have been warmer and drier, however, all indications suggest that we’re currently transitioning into cooler and wetter conditions known as an el nino – at this point it’s just a waiting game to see when those conditions will set in, which Knox believes will be this November.

“So, right now we’re in that period where we’re transitioning from a La Nina to an El Nino – we call those neutral conditions, that’s in between those two. In neutral conditions, there’s not a lot of predictability of what’s going to happen this year. It’s not necessarily likely that we’ll see a drought. It’s been dry this winter, so sometimes when you leave a La Nina, you can get drought, but we’ve been pretty wet. So, I don’t know that we’re going to see that this year which is probably a good thing for the farmers,” says Knox.

According to Knox however, one thing producers should consider as we enter those cooler and rainy conditions this Fall is the potential impact that it would have on getting their crops harvested.

“If El Nino comes on quickly, as most models predict it’s going to, we could see an early, wet fall, because that Jetstream could set up over Georgia by fall, which could cause problems for some harvests,” says Knox. “So, I think farmers are really going to have to be watching this fall to make sure that if there’s a window of dry weather, they’re out and making the most of it.”

Another consideration is the impact on the tropics. According to Knox, el nino weather patterns typically mean a less active tropical storm season, which could be both good and bad news for farmers, as storms can certainly damage their crops, but producers rely on the rain throughout the Summer.

“When we have an El Nino, we tend to have fewer storms. Now we can still have strong ones. You know, Hurricane Michael was in the beginning of an El Nino episode, so it only takes one, but we get a lot of our rain from, from tropical storms in the summer. So what that could mean is we could end up with pretty wet conditions, and maybe an early active tropical season early in the year before El Nino really sets up. And then later in the fall, once we get that stronger El Nino really going, we could see more rainy conditions and a less likelihood of having a tropical storm,” says Knox.

By: John Holcomb

Feral Swine Workshop Educates Producers on Control Techniques

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Buena Vista, GA

While feral swine might not have the same notoriety as some of the other invasive species here in Georgia, few have reeked more havoc over the past decade. That damage isn’t just limited to the economy, as they also put a massive strain on the environment.

“According to some surveys done by the University of Georgia in 2015, feral swine are responsible for approximately a hundred million dollars just in agricultural damage in the state of Georgia alone,” says Matt Ondovchik, Feral Swine Coordinator for APHIS. “Above and beyond that, when you tie in all the natural resource damage; water quality issues, threatening endangered species, you can tack on about another fifty million dollars to that. So, it’s a hundred and fifty million dollars problem. Keep in mind, that’s an eight-year-old number now. So, I’m certain that some of those have increased over time. Beyond that, how do you put a dollar value on water quality? How do you put a dollar value on a threatened endangered species loss? There’s a lot of caveats to that number that are probably not representative.”

With feral swine having such a huge impact on a number of different levels, USDA Wildlife Services brought together several agencies for an event designed to inform the public about all the potential risks and some of the control options available.

“At a workshop like this, you’ve got the University of Georgia, the Georgia Department of Agriculture, the Georgia Association of Conservation Districts, USDA, Georgia DNR; you’ve got multiple entities all out here preaching the same message and working together to educate landowners on effective control techniques and allowing people to feel like they can make a difference and have an influence on the problems they’re dealing with,” says Ondovchik.

While there are a few different ways in dealing with this type of problem, such as repellants and shooting, there is one method that is recommended above the rest.

“Large corral style trapping, in our opinion, is the most effective control technique we have available at this time,” says Ondovchik. “There’s certain characteristics; you want to build a large enough trap to hold a large number of pigs. Pigs travel in large groups or sounders if you will, secondly, you want to build that trap strong enough to hold a group of twenty angry caught pigs. There are some characteristics with the panels. We recommend a minimum height of sixty inches. It’s surprising to a lot of people, but pigs are pretty decent athletes and anything less that, you will lose some pigs where they will jump over top of it.”

With feral hogs being the most reproductively capable large mammals in North America, capturing the entire group is a must, which is why picking a method and sticking with it is so vital.

“If you’re going to go down the avenue of trying to utilize trapping on your property, it’s highly recommended that that be the only control technique you utilize. I’m never going to take a farmer’s ability or right to carry a rifle behind their seat and shoot pigs. However, as long as those pigs are pressured, whether it’s dog hunting, recreational sport hunting, thermal shooting; those pigs are constantly on the run. You’re not going to have success getting those pigs to relax enough to remove that apprehension where they will go inside that trap allowing you to have success in removing that entire family group,” says Ondovchik.

By: Damon Jones

Southwest Georgia U-Pick Strawberry Operation Going Strong After 22 Years

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Moultrie, GA

Beautiful skies, rows of ripe strawberries, and family time – things you can find on U-pick operations across the state, just like this one, Ochlockonee Ridge Farms in Moultrie. A strawberry operation started by the Hart family more than two-decades ago when they decided to diversify their family farm and create a place for people to enjoy.

“We are a diversified farm. We also do cotton, peanuts, small grains, and cattle. We are in a very competitive area; there’s some very good farmers in this area, so the competition for land is pretty intense, so we had to figure out a way to increase profitability, and so, my sister came up with this idea; she had been to Washington Farms outside of Athens and Clarke County, and my dad had just retired as a vocational ag teacher and thought it may be something that would fit. Since that time we have expanded it, as far as the U-Pick business and we do a little bit of direct sales, whole selling red strawberries to end users which would be cafeterias, mainly schools,” says Farm Manager, Trey Hart.

This year is their twenty-second crop, and as you can see, they’ve got tons of perfectly ripe berries ready to be picked. However, getting them to this point hasn’t been easy, as Hart says mother nature has been tricky.

“We started with eighty degree temperatures in February, really set a crop and that came in early March and I thought, ‘man we’re about to be off to the races,'” says Hart. “Since that time, it’s just been kind of cool and warm, alternating with little spats of rain, but the rain has come in such a way this year that it really has not affected my quality very much, but I like for my growth curve to go up very quickly once we start picking and this year it’s been a very slow increase and we just haven’t been able to get the real volume that I want but I will say we’ve had good participation.”

Good participation indeed. In fact, Hart says that since the days of COVID, their business has grown year over year, so much so that they’re planning on expanding their patch – something he says hasn’t happened in more than a decade.

“We originally had better than three acres of strawberries. We cut that back to one and a half acres and then we built that back up to what we have currently, which is about two acres,” says Hart. “If you look out in the field over my shoulder, where those flags are, we’re going to expand the patch a little bit for the first time in about twelve years and that’s to better service my wholesale buyers, my school systems, which we deal with most of the surrounding school systems, as well as keep my U-pick business happy, because my whole hallmark is that we don’t pick anything that is not red, ripe, and ready to be used.”

By: John Holcomb

Vidalia Onion Grower Overcomes Difficult Growing Season

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Glennville, GA

While they might raise chicken and cattle, as well as grow watermelons and other row crops during the summer, B & H Farms is best known for their three hundred acres of Vidalia onions. Despite not growing up on a farm, it’s an industry co-owner, Ben Hilliard developed a passion for at an early age.

“My dad was a forester and my mom worked for the board of education and we actually lived in town until my senior year in high school, which, I’ve always had an interest in farming. I worked for a small tobacco farm growing up and then later became partners with that farmer’s son,” says Hilliard.

Recently, he, along with his business partner, Chase Brennan, were named the 2022 Grower of the Year by the Vidalia Onion Committee, thanks in large part to their commitment to new practices and technology.

We’re extremely fortunate and blessed to be able to even be in the area to grow a Vidalia onion. Not everyone in the state gets to enjoy the process of growing these Vidalia’s. We have what we call AgSense on our pivots, which you can operate from a cell phone, which is extremely convenient. You can watch during the middle of the night, or it tells you if you have an error or problem, and with the labor issues, if you can just maximize your efficiency with your work through technology it will equate to a lot of time with your family,” says Hilliard.

However, that technology isn’t much help during harvest as Vidalia onions are considered one of the most labor-intensive crops, which results in some pretty long hours over the next few weeks.

“It’s a pretty hectic time, but it’s pretty gratifying when you get finished,” says Hilliard. “There’s a lot of pressure, a lot of long hours, but when you’re finished, it makes it all worth it. There’s a huge amount of work. Everything is hand clipped. We haul them in by trucks and tractor trailers and then obviously, we go through our drying and packing process before it ever goes onto another truck and heads to the retailer for the customers.”

However, you won’t find any complaining, as this year’s crop appears to be in good shape despite some less-than-ideal weather during growing season.

“We’ve had some pretty volatile weather conditions. That early freeze around Christmas hurt us really bad from a population standpoint per acre, but all that considered, we’re very blessed to even have what we have to pack and harvest this year,” says Hilliard.

That gratitude extends to the consumers, who are the main reason Hilliard puts in all the time and effort to grow Georgia’s signature vegetable.

“The most gratifying part is to take a seed and get it to harvest and get it to a customer and then have positive feedback from that customer; hearing how much they enjoyed it and how much, they enjoyed grilling or fed their families,” says Hilliard.

By: Damon Jones