Author Archives: John Holcomb

Georgia’s Growing Wine & Muscadine Production

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Acworth, GA |

It’s long been said that preparation is the key to success. And with so many different factors to consider both in and away from the field, that certainly applies to starting up your own winery. It’s why the Georgia Wine Producers put on this New Grape Growers Symposium twice a year in order to give those interested both the information and confidence to make that leap.

“Definitely do it, but get an education first. Know what you’re heading into. Know the laws and rules and regulations in your locale before you even put a shovel into the ground,” says Jane Miller, President of the Georgia Wine Producers.

“Local legislation is always important. How cooperative is your county or it’s not so often how cooperative they are, it’s just how much do they actually know? A lot of times, our wineries will have to introduce the idea of what we’re doing to the local legislatures. As soon as they see what we’re actually doing and how we’re impacting the community, then they’re really open to it most of the time,” says Bill Cox, VP of Georgia Wine Producers.

That planning also applies to which varieties you are hoping to grow, as both the climate and soil conditions will go a long way in determining which grapes will be most successful.

“One of the things that can be a downfall as we all are learning this process is if you plant stuff in the ground and then start researching what you need to do for that, a lot of the times the soil can be a very big difference. If you already have your grapes in the ground and you already have your trellis system in the ground, you can’t adjust your soil very much. We have a lot of acidic soils, a lot of compact soils that if you do not break that up and mix in some Lyme in order to make sure it’s a little bit more conducive to what the grapes need, you suffer on the long term,” says Dr. Sarah Lowder, UGA Viticulture Extension Specialist.

Despite all the work that goes into educating yourself, that hasn’t stopped a growing number of people from fulfilling their dream of opening up a winery, as they can now be found all over the state.

“Now, there’s almost a hundred wineries. We’re not quite sure. There’s around a hundred wineries in Georgia growing everything from vinifera, muscadine, fruit wines, Norton and Linus, Blanc to Blanc, some of the so called Native American grapes and we have wineries from Blairsville at the top of the state to Valdosta at the bottom of the state. So, it’s really an interesting time to be in Georgia,” says Miller.

That’s good news not just for the agricultural industry, but for the entire economy as well, with many rural areas of the state now becoming a destination thanks to its growing popularity.

“People want to go to a winery, but they want to go to five or six wineries in a weekend a lot more. So, if we can get more friends into this and more people involved, then all the supporting things also come with it, nicer hotels, restaurants, bed and breakfasts, all this other really cool stuff. So, when people come out to the wineries, they get to enjoy all of that and the whole community benefits,” says Cox.

By: Damon Jones

EPD’s Proposed Water Plan for Southwest Georgia

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Dawson, GA |

For the first time in more than a decade, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division is actively working on creating a plan to ease regulations put in place back in 2012 after one of the worst droughts the state has ever seen. That suspension, which halted any new withdrawal permits as well as any modifications to existing withdrawal permits on the Flint River Basin, was meant to protect water resources from being overconsumed.  However, that could all soon change after years of evaluation and data collection.

“The 2012 suspension was never intended to be a permanent suspension. We knew that we needed to use and manage the water resource effectively. So we’ve just been working over the last twelve years to get better water data, better metering data, to go through and evaluate that information. We’re also in a really unique position where we have funding from ARPA, that’s going to the Georgia Water Planning and Policy Center for the for the development of an incidental take permit and a habitat conservation plan. That all sounds like a lot of jargon, but really what it boils down to is we have some threatened, endangered mussels in the lower Flint basin, and this is a way for us to protect our existing water users and protect those mussels, while at the same time, stopping and trying to think through how do we want permitting to look moving forward,” says Ania Truszczynski, Chief of the EPD Watershed Protection Branch

The proposed modifications are contingent upon two main factors: additional capacity being identified and the protection of water and those already permitted to use it, and if those criteria are met, new permits would be under drought restrictions that users would need to comply with to ensure proper management.

“When times are good, when times are normal, even when times are a little bit dry, you can irrigate just as anyone normally would, but when we get into a really significant drought, the kinds of things you saw in 2007, in 2011, restrictions can be put in place and that person would not be able to withdraw from the Floridan aquifer anymore to make sure that we were not using too much of that water resource. The second thing that we’re talking about is making sure that we’ve got really good compliance options. So if folks do have a situation where they’re irrigating outside of their permitted acreage, that we have a good path to compliance, it’s going to get them where they need to be, where we can protect the water resource, but we’re really all working together,” says Truszczynski.

According to Murray Campbell, a farmer who has been a part of this discussion since the first moratorium was put in place in 1999, says this modification would be a great win for those like himself, who wouldn’t be able to farm without irrigation.

“We are so much further down the road in the science and knowing what’s going on and being able to predict what will happen with the modeling. We are on the verge of being able to protect the permits that we have, which is important, to correct some of the inaccuracies that we have in some of the permits and that we can then see where those areas are, where we can open up and have some more permits that may be under a drought restriction, under a significant situation, but we have come so much farther where we were twenty-five years ago it’s unbelievable, and we are making great progress and it’s going to be good for agriculture,” says Murray Campbell, Owner of Murray Campbell Farms.

The EPD hopes to have a final decision regarding the current suspension in November.

By: John Holcomb

Empowering Women Through Equestrian Excellence: Inside Wesleyan College’s Unique Program

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Macon, GA |

Here in Macon at Wesleyan College, these girls can often be found at the equestrian center, prepping, training, and working with their horses. The program, which has seen great success over the years, is one that continues to grow in popularity and stand out as Wesleyan is one of ten all women’s colleges in the nation to have an equestrian program.

“The equestrian program is something that makes us very, very distinct. Young girls can come to Wesleyan, can they bring their horses and board them here, and it’s a program that if you’ve never been on a horse or you’re quite serious about, equestrian, we’ve got something for everybody. We’ve had a lot of good success, including last year, we sent two individuals to Nationals in North Carolina, and I’m thrilled to announce that this year, we’re sending 3, to North Carolina and will be competing in the nationals. So, we’ve had great placements, great standing, and we’re going to continue that tradition,” says Meaghan Blight, President of Wesleyan College.

What’s unique about their program, is that regardless of experience or background, any student at Wesleyan is welcome to become an equestrian rider and competitor.

“We’re really proud that no matter what your experience level is with horses, you’re welcomed into this program. You hear about teaching hospitals in schools. This is a teaching equestrian center, so you can learn how to groom a horse. You can learn how to walk with a horse, and then, in fact, get up and jump on a horse. We have that progression all the way along. So, whether it’s your very first time or you’re a seasoned expert, and you’ve been riding your whole life. There’s something for everybody here,” says Blight.

“Horses are expensive; very expensive, and the cheapest part is buying the horse. So there’s a lot of girls, myself included, that whenever we were younger, we didn’t have the horses, we didn’t have the experience, we didn’t have the money. So, now when you come to college, you can say, ‘hey, I now can be a part of this. I want to do something with horses.’ Now I can take these girls and they can come from no experience at all, and they can say, ‘hey, we want to show’. So, I can take them from absolutely nothing and build them into something spectacular,” says Taylor Kankowski, Director of the Wesleyan Equestrian Center.

Of course, with a program like this one, it no doubt takes a lot of hard work to get the girls saddle and season ready, which is why Kankowski gives lessons, schedules practices, and even makes them strength train each week to make sure they’re prepared in the arena.

“Usually whenever we start back up, we start with at least once a week lessons, bare minimum. Then, I’m starting in the Fall doing at least once a week. So, we’re doing once a week riding lessons and once a week gym sessions, so that way we’re all held accountable for our horses,” says Kankowski.

According to Blight, the most important aspect of the program is the impact, as she believes their equestrian program helps build character and responsibly.

“It builds certain discipline and responsibilities. I mean, there’s so, so many proven, important opportunities for young women to engage with animals that create stress relief, bonding, and just that responsibility of taking care of something beyond yourself,” says Blight.

By: John Holcomb

From Freeze to Feast: Georgia Peach Orchards Rebound with Bumper Crop in 2024!

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Fort Valley, GA |

What a difference a year makes. After seeing orchards full of damaged peaches in 2023 due to a late freeze, it is the complete opposite this time around, as there will be plenty of fruit to harvest in 2024, after Mother Nature served up an ideal spring for growers.

“That was nice to go through a Spring where we didn’t really have to crank up the wind machines and we weren’t running around burning hay bales and a lot of stuff that doesn’t make a lot of difference, but we think we’re helping, but this year, it was a good kind of Spring that you would like to order up if you could,” says Al Pearson, Owner of Pearson Farms.

“We normally expect some damage from cold, and so, normally an eighty percent crop, eighty percent of full bloom and full crop in every orchard, is usually a full crop. This year, we had pretty much a full crop across the board. I’ve seen peaches in places I’ve never seen peaches before,” says Jeff Cook, County Extension Coordinator.

Those favorable conditions were a continuation from the winter months, which saw the crop receive more than an adequate number of chill hours. In fact, the growing season was optimal enough to serve as a gauge for the future.

“This year is a barometer for us that, with the no frost and a good Winter and such, if we have a problem with a peach variety this year, we need to think about not planting it,” says Pearson.

That isn’t to say the weather was perfect, as there are always issues to deal with throughout the year.

“We’ve had another wet year so far. It’s dried off recently, but we’ve had a really wet year. I think we’re thirty something inches of rain already for the year. So, we’ve had a really wet year. When you’re growing a crop that’s perishable like a peach, it has a bunch diseases. Moisture is one thing that feeds a disease. If you’ve got a crop that the disease attacks, and then you have plenty of moisture, if you can’t protect that fruit, then you can have some issues,” says Cook.

Despite that, it is expected to be a bumper crop, which does create some complications when preparing orchards for harvest.

“That just made it for a lot tougher, a lot harder job to go in there and prune and then come back and subsequently thin. Once we knew ‘hey, we, we’ve got a crop, now we’ve got to get it thinned so we can size them up and have good, quality peaches.’ You’ve only got so many people who you plan for the year that you’ve got coming in, coming to work, and those guys have to be able to get around to the whole farm. This year, they actually had to go to the whole farm to try and thin peaches because there were peaches everywhere,” says Cook.

However, you won’t find any growers complaining about a big crop, as they are excited to get their fruit out to consumers in the coming months.

“It’s dry right now, hot and dry, but that makes peaches taste real good. So that’s a good thing and we know that the fruit that we deliver is going to ripen well for the customer and be a good thing to eat,” says Pearson.

By: Damon Jones

Georgia Corn Growers Struggle to Market Bumper Crop

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Brinson, GA |

Nothing says Summer like fresh, Georgia sweet corn, and producers here in the southwest part of the state are hard at work getting this season’s crop out of the field and to market. This year has been a good one for producers as the great growing season has led to great yields and great quality.

“So far, the growing season has been really optimum. We’ve had mild temperatures and very few hard rains, so it’s going good. Really high yields; yields are good, the quality is good, we’re having a really good growing season,” says Glenn Heard, Owner of Heard Family Farm.

However, according to Heard, Florida growers have also had a good season, which has caused a surplus in the market, which means they’re having to leave some of their crop in the fields unharvested.

“Typically, we overlap with Florida some and usually one or the other of us, have production issues, but this year we didn’t. They had good corn and we had good corn, so now we’re having a marketing problem because we got too much good corn in both places. When we have a bad market, we cannot harvest all the corn, so that corn is destroyed. Now, we try and stay up on maturity, so we maintain good quality and we have to skip. When it gets too old, we skip that and go to some new corn,” says Heard.

According to Heard, another issue they’re dealing with is the cost of their needed inputs, which have skyrocketed in the last few years and has inflated their cost of production.

“It’s corn, so, it needs a lot of fertilizer and water, probably more than any other crop we have, but other than that, we have a lot of insecticides, we’re not allowed to use GMO corn, so we have to control all the pests and insects with insecticides and we have to do it on a regular basis, too. The input cost is just overwhelming us with the market prices we’ve had to endure the last few years,” says Heard.

Heard says that the weather has also been a concern this Spring, as too much rain can take too much out of their soil and storms, particularly wind, can completely ruin their crop.

“If we get the right amount of rain, that’s good, but if we get too much, with our sandy soil, it leeches our nutrients out, so we have to replace every time we get big rains. What worries us the most about storm systems is wind; if sweet corn gets blown over at any time during its growing season, it generally will not produce a quality ear,” says Heard.

By: John Holcomb

Green Conference Showcases Economic Impact

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Duluth, GA |

The horticulture industry in Georgia is far more complex than just flowers and plants, as machinery, irrigation systems and even decorations play a major role on its economic impact. And all of those sectors were on full display at the Southeast Green Conference and Trade Show, the only multi-day event of its kind here in Georgia.

“Each year, as our industry grows, new plants come out, it is time to get together, new technology. Our industry is always evolving and changing. So, it’s just a really good time to get together and see what everyone’s got going on and how we can grow our businesses. Farm gate value has us up in the top ten each year, and when you combine all of horticulture together, we’re the number four ag commodity in Georgia. The green industry is a very diverse industry. We cover nurseries, landscape, irrigation, garden centers, allied product and services. So, anything and everything related to ornamental horticulture,” says Lanie Riner, GGIA Executive Director.

Just like any other big industry, horticulture does face challenges along the way. Aside from emerging pests and weather events, there is one particular problem that has remained a constant for nurseries around the state.

“The other big issue, I think, has been for a long time and will continue to be is labor, temporary labor, whether that’s H2B, H2A, farm worker labor, and then union opportunities, but I think the big thing that just came out that we’re really engaged in is the department of labor just put out new rule changes to the H2A program. It’s very union friendly. It was written by the unions,” says Rachel Pick, Senior Manager of Government Affairs with AmericanHort.

With the growing popularity of gardening, plant sales are at an all-time high and only projected to increase. So, with so many new people looking to start up their own garden, one expert’s big piece of advice is to take it slowly.

“I have a garden at home. I love my garden and one of the real benefits of my garden is it is small. You know, I’m all over five acres or fifty acres, that’s great, but if you put a garden in, start with a container. Truly, start with a container. Put a whole bunch of plants, look at them all. Stick them in there and then you’ll have two containers. Then you say maybe I’ll put a little something by the deck or something. Start small and then once you get the, kind of the bug, you can expand. Again, that’s what I do in my garden. It’s a small garden, but it’s full,” says Allan Armitage, UGA Horticulture Professor.

Even though maintaining a beautiful landscape does take plenty of time and effort, the countless benefits gardening has to offer is the reason it has become so trendy over the past decade.

“We always have something to look forward to, always. You put a seed in the ground, you look forward to the tomato. You put a bulb in the ground in the fall, you look forward to the daffodil in the spring. You put something in the spring, you look forward to what it’s going to do, always something to look forward to. It keeps us happy, keeps us young, keeps us active. What more do you need?”, says Armitage.

By: Damon Jones

Significant Rainfall is Impacting Cotton Fields

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Tifton, GA |

This time of year, typically you can find cotton producers in their fields wrapping up the planting of their crop. However, this year, things have looked a little different, as unprecedented rainfall has delayed producers from getting their 2024 crop in the ground.

“We’ve kind of had wet Mays the last two years, which is a little abnormal for us. We’re used to May being one of our drier months and not being able to do a lot of dryland planting and stuff like that, but we’ve had these fronts come through consistently that are keeping us out of the field. So, we’re at the RDC pivot today; a lot of people know where that is here in Tifton, but we were able to get in here the first week of May and plant this, but if we had not done that, then we probably wouldn’t have been able to plant it until now,” says Extension Cotton Agronomist, Camp Hand.

As Hand stated, since that first week of May, producers have not been able to get into their fields to finish planting, as the amount of rain they’ve gotten is unlike anything they’ve seen, which, according to producer, Brian Ponder, just creates more challenges to deal with throughout the season.

“Typically, in our area after about the 25th of May our yields start to decline. So, normally we would like to be through around the 20th through the 25th, but in years past at that point that’s when we see a decline in yields. Now, it’s not every year because every year’s different, and we know the Lord can work things out. We may end up making the best crop we’ve ever made, but typically planting as late as we are, we’re kind of challenged to get the yields that we need,” says Brian Ponder, Owner of Pondagold Farms in Tifton.

According to Hand however, he believes the state as a whole is in a decent spot and says regardless of whether or not the crop is planted on time, a good crop is still possible.

“We’re about where we need to be, but, with that being said, we do have an insurance deadline coming up. Next week is the first week of June, so a lot of folks are worried about getting a crop in. The one thing I’ll say is we can still make really good cotton that’s planted in June. We can get it off to a good start, but we just got to be a little more careful with making sure we don’t delay that crop any and finding any issues associated it with that crop and fixing those,” says Hand.

For Ponder and others like however, the real concern is with the financial issues producers are facing, as he says inputs and other costs have increased, but the price of cotton isn’t much more today than it was four decades ago, which makes it difficult to just breakeven.

“Today we can sell cotton for seventy-six cents a pound. Forty years ago, we were probably seventy-three. We’re basically selling the crop for the same price as we did four decades ago. In that time when I started growing cotton, I was paying twenty-five dollars a bag for cotton seed, now I’m paying 650 dollars. A cotton picker that I started out with, we bought a used cotton picker in 1987, I paid twenty-five thousand dollars for it, and now a new picker today is a million dollars. So that’s the challenges that we’re facing,” says Ponder.

By: John Holcomb

GFB Presents County Voices, Capitol Choices

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Colbert, GA |

It was a who’s who in attendance for the second stop of the GFB County Voices, Capitol Choices tour as member from both the state House and Senate, along with the Georgia governor Brian Kemp were on hand at Moon Farms for a meet and greet with local farmers. It’s an event that provides an informal opportunity for producers, like GFB President Tom McCall and his wife Jane, to connect with legislators away from the hustle and bustle of the state capitol.

“When you get to their local areas, on a personal, local basis, then that means a whole lot more than six hundred, seven hundred people coming to the capitol and all trying to get in there and talk. So, when you can get one on one, like they did with the Governor and Mrs. Marty; I mean, that was great,” says GFB President, Tom McCall.

It was beneficial for the state lawmakers as well, offering them a platform to highlight some of the good work they are doing at the state capitol in support of rural Georgia.

“We get stuck in Atlanta a lot of times. We want people in rural Georgia, we want our farmers, our agribusiness people to know that we’re up there fighting for them. It’s a big part of our economy. There’s a lot of really good things happening in rural Georgia, a lot of really tough issues that we’re dealing with too with commodity prices, energy prices, but we’re trying to do things at the Gold Dome to help people fight through that,” says Georgia Governor, Brian Kemp.

All that work is not going unnoticed by producers around the state, as they are using this event to show their appreciation for all the support.

“Agriculture is the number one industry in this state, and I think they recognize and they, they embrace that and that’s what’s important to me is that they not only recognize that, but they want to see it thrive and get better. So, it’s definitely, it’s awesome to see the support that we get,” says Russ Moon, Owner of Moon Farms.

With Georgia being one of the largest and most agriculturally diverse states in the country, making it a priority for Governor Kemp benefits not just rural areas.

“As a Farm Bureau member, as a timber farmer myself, and somebody that’s been in some ag related businesses, I understand what that brings not just to the rural economy, but to our whole state’s economy, when you think about broiler production, cattle, a lot of the specialty crops that we have, fruits, vegetables; you could go on and on, fiber; it’s just a very, very important industry for us. It helps insulate our economy in a lot of ways,” says Governor Kemp.

Despite it being the largest industry in Georgia, it is not well represented in the state legislation, which is why connecting farmers with those in power is one of the most important missions of the Georgia Farm Bureau.

“There’s only five farmers left in the legislature right now, both house and senate, only five. So, for farmers to be able to tell their elected people what we do, what we need, the help that they need to give us and what we need to do for them to educate them, it’s what this whole thing is. That’s why it is important for farmers and our members to do what the purpose of Farm Bureau is, which is to represent agriculture, farmers, and rural Georgia in the legislative arena,” says McCall.

By: Damon Jones

Small, Family Operation Specializes in Pure Bred Scottish Highland Cattle

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Thomson, GA |

After years of raising horses, the Crawford family made the decision four years ago to purchase their first Pure Bred Scottish Highland. Ever since, they’ve worked tirelessly to expand their herd to what is now twenty five of these unique cattle. It’s a decision that the Crawfords didn’t take lightly but is one they certainly don’t regret.

“Initially, I was drawn to just how amazing they look, they’re beautiful cows, but then as I learned more about them, I discovered that they’re perfect for families that have less acreage than traditional cattle farms. So maybe five to ten acres. They’re very easy keepers. They’re actually considered true ruminants, similar to goats. So yes, we do have to feed them hay, and we have to make sure that they have enough grass. However, they’ll eat trees, they’ll eat vines. So, they kind of care for themselves. They’re just a hardy breed, and what really spoke to me is their longevity. With Highland cows, they live up until their early twenties, and it’s not uncommon for them to reproduce up until that time,” says Vanessa Crawford, Owner of Crawford’s Double O Farm.

Of course, just like with any other livestock, they do come with challenges, the most notable of course are their thick coats, but Crawford says that they have adapted well to Georgia’s climate and says they also take measures to make sure they stay comfortable.

“What we discovered is here near Augusta, during the months of July and Augusta, it became more challenging for them. Like, they didn’t really want to eat more during the day. So, we ended up installing sprinklers, and that was a game changer. So, we have several sprinklers ready to go as soon as it starts warming up, like today. We always make sure they have access to a good water source and that their water troughs are always very clean, but otherwise they’ve adapted. So, the girls that we’ve had here for now, three or four years, their coats do start to thin out. They keep the dossen and they keep all the hair on their legs, but the coats on their bodies, they actually start to thin out and so I think they adapt,” says Crawford.

As much as Crawford says she enjoys their farm and their Scottish Highlands, there’s one thing in particular she says she loves most, and that’s the fact that their operation is a family one, which as you can see is very much the case, as the entire Crawford family works to keep the farm running.

“It’s all hands-on deck, as they say. So, the children help me with feeding the cows. My daughter, who is ten years old, she will help me work with the youngest calves, but she also helps me halter train them. She’s helped me milk the cows, any veterinary care that we can do on the farm we’ve done together. Moving the cows; we do as a family. There’s only four of us. When we have farm visits, it’s just the four of us doing the farm visits. We don’t hire anybody to come out and help with stuff, so she does dragging. So does my son, dragging the pasture. This year, she’s going to start bush hogging. I mean, the kids are very much involved in everything,” says Crawford.

By: John Holcomb

Utilizing Robotics to Assist with Production

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Athens, GA |

Between the use of GPS and auto-steering on tractors, to sensors and monitoring systems on irrigation pivots, precision agriculture has become an interregnal part of maximizing efficiency on the farm. And the next evolution could be the addition of robotics onto farming operations like this onion sorter Preshant Doshi and his team at the University of Georgia have been working on for the past six years.

“So, essentially, the robot is engaging in what I call as pick, inspect, place. So, the idea is that the robot has to figure out where to go in to pick the onion. This is told by the robot’s vision system. Then, once it picks the onion, it will process it and then based on what it sees, it will then either place the onion back on the conveyor or it will place it in the discard bin,” says Preshant Doshi, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Georgia.

This technology is not designed to replace humans, but rather work alongside them, which provides an interesting challenge when programing its safety measures.

“You need to first sense the human, where the human is, what he is doing, so, detect what actions he is doing. Then estimate what he might do next. Predict that and then adjust your behavior according to that. So, this is not a trivial thing at all, and humans don’t follow a fixed behavior. You cannot preprogram this into the robot. There is no one specific way in which humans sort something. So, there are a lot of challenges,” says Prasanth Suresh, Senior PhD Candidate at UGA.

Unlike the manufacturing industry, this smaller robot is designed to fit in around the farmer’s packing shed or warehouse, which provides a more cost-effective opportunity for them to check out some of the benefits this technology can provide.

“We essentially want to give them an option to be able to use robotic technology to do the sortation. So, there are off seasons and there are on seasons, for these farms, but during off seasons, they may still get shipments of onions and they may not have their full workforce around. At that point, you can actually use this technology and to be able to sort those onions. Also sometimes workers get sick, and they are not able to come in, but you still have to sort your onions. So, then again, you can lean on this technology to fill that gap,” says Doshi.

This type of system might be closer than you think, as Doshi hopes to have robots like this up and running over the next few years.

“The end goal is to be able to move this from the lab to the factory floor, to the packing shed floor. Once we are able to get our first deployment, then I think there will be a better awareness of what this technology can do and how it can work for you. I am really hopeful that in the next five years to see at least, some of the biggest sheds in Georgia start using this technology,” says Doshi.

By: Damon Jones