Tag Archives: georgia grown

Wild Hog Supper 2025: Celebrating Agriculture & Unity Before Georgia’s Legislative Session

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Atlanta, GA |

As the sun began to set on the Capitol the night of January twelfth, the smell of barbecue filled the air just outside of the Georgia Freight Depot as this year’s hog was being smoked, which could only mean one thing:  the 62nd annual Wild Hog Supper, an event that’s traditionally held on the eve of the legislative session, was underway.

“For sixty-two years there’s been a party where they’ve all come together. Members of the General Assembly, members of the public have all come together, sort of celebrate being together. There are no bills moving yet, nobody’s mad. Everybody’s really having a good time. And so it’s just a great tradition that brings the members of the General Assembly together, along with the public,” says Danah Craft, Executive Director of Feeding Georgia.

As Craft stated, the event is meant to be a friendly one, bringing together legislators, lobbyists, and the public before the serious business of lawmaking begins. However, it also serves to celebrate the great partnership between Feeding Georgia, Georgia Grown, and the state’s farmers and farm families.

“The partnership between the Department of Agriculture and Georgia Grown is a phenomenal partnership where we bring our number one industry in partnering with those groups like Feeding Georgia and our food banks all across the state that are helping our families that are food insecure get food on their table. I think that is an important partnership, because our farm families all across Georgia that produce that food ends up on that plate. We help be the conduit in helping provide that access to those food banks for those farm families as well as for those families that need that additional assistance,” says Tyler Harper, Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture.

Beyond celebrating partnerships, the event also serves as an opportunity to highlight agriculture and its importance as Georgia’s number one industry.

“It’s the unofficial official kickoff to the General Assembly. So, it’s awesome to get our legislators and state leaders together, obviously with a focus on our number one industry. So, obviously the department and Georgia grown and being the commissioner and our friends in the agricultural industry that are that are involved in this, along with Feeding Georgia; we get that first opportunity to have those conversations with legislators as the session gets kicked off here tomorrow, and gives us that opportunity to remind them how important our number one industry is, how important it is to support our farm families, how important it is to ensure that those families that are insecure, that they’re able to have access to high quality food that Georgia farmers produce every single day,” says Harper.

“Our hosts are the House and Senate agriculture committees and Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper. All of those members of those committees are here, as well as other members of the General Assembly. So it’s an opportunity to lift up the importance of agriculture. A lot of our sponsors are from the agriculture community, and they are here as well. So, yes, it’s a celebratory event, but it’s also a networking event, right? It’s an opportunity to bring your issues here to members of the General Assembly, but also to celebrate the work that General Assembly does to help keep Georgia’s number one industry strong,” says Craft.

By: John Holcomb

Growers Showcase Fruits and Vegetables in Savannah

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Savannah, GA |

Georgia is home to the world-famous Vidalia onion, is one of the top blueberry producers and is, of course, known as the Peach State. So, with and fruits and vegetables being such big business, keeping up to date on the constantly evolving industry is a tall task and the main goal of the annual Southeast Fruit and Vegetable Conference in Savannah.

“The principles of growing fruits and vegetables have been established since time. But the regulatory policies and science and technology that is needed to run a successful and profitable fruit and vegetable industry is ever changing. So, being able to come to a conference as a collaborative, fresh produce industry and learn together, fight together, advance the science together is the only way we are going to be able to continue to have a bright future in the southeast,” says Beth Oleson, Director of Food Safety and Education for the G.F.V.G.A.

While each commodity has their own set of unique challenges, there are certain issues that are far reaching.

“Fruit and vegetable growers continue to be challenged by two primary issues. One is labor and the ability to have a stable and documented labor force. The second would be trade issues. We continue to see a surge in imports coming primarily from Mexico and other South American countries that are coming in often at or below our cost of production. So, we’ve got to find a way to level that playing field for American growers,” says Chris Butts, Executive Director of the G.F.V.G.A.

That means producers must adapt and grow with the times, which makes the more than one hundred informational sessions invaluable.

“How can I move from a large scale commercial production into large scale organic production? We’re talking through different ways to integrate robotics and precision agriculture just to make things more streamline. Then we’re also talking through fumigation, pesticide updates, regulatory updates. So we’re covering from A to Z, so we have it going on,” says Oleson

That applies for the trade show as well, where a record number of visitors got an up-close look at the latest technology that shapes the industry.

“We kind of call it seed to shelf, everything from supplies for growers to grow their crops to machines for harvesting, packaging, and mechanization to the chemicals and other inputs that we provide. It’s really a one stop shop for growers to come and form new relationships but also strengthen relationships they have with existing suppliers and exhibitors,” says Butts.

Having the right information and relationships is more important than ever, especially during this trying time.

“Our trends right now are how can we do more with less. We continue to have record input costs and inflation, so growers are looking to sharpen their pencil and sharpen their tools so to speak, so that they can increase yields, hopefully lower some of those input costs and have a better bottom line at the end of the day,” says Butts.

By: Damon Jones