Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles discussing topics raised at the Eggs & Issues breakfast sponsored by the Moultrie-Colquitt County Chamber of Commerce Aug. 20. 

MOULTRIE — The difficulties facing today’s farmers seemed to be the overarching theme discussed by the agricultural panel at the Moultrie-Colquitt County Chamber of Commerce’s Second Annual Eggs & Issues event, Aug. 20, at Southern Regional Technical College’s Veterans Parkway campus.

Moderated by Emily Watson with the UGA Extension Southwest District, the panel consisted of Chip Blalock, executive director of the Sunbelt Ag Expo; Dominic LaRiccia, director of Field services for the Georgia Department of Agriculture; Jeremy Kichler, UGA Extension’s Colquitt County Extension coordinator; Plenn Hunnicutt, insurance agent for South Georgia Crop Insurance, Inc.; and Will Burt, Colquitt County High School agriculture mechanics teacher and FFA advisor.

Watson opened with a question asking what the main stressors were for people in the agriculture industry.

Hunnicutt replied, “One of the stressors we have is the financial stress.”

He said that he had done the math in comparing 2023 with 2024, comparing four of the bigger commodities in Colquitt County.

“And in 2023, considering the yield and the price of commodities … the Ag sector on the four bigger commodities here, which is cotton, corn, peanuts and soybeans. A $1.3 million loss for Colquitt County,” he said.

He added that considering the yield and the acre changes for 2024, using the 2023 yield because the 2024 yield is unknown, and considering the commodity markets, they are considerably down and at a $19.8 million deficit for projected commodity revenue coming in this year.

“So you know, that stressor there. That unknown. … But that’s pretty true math right there. It’s the unknown that’s the stressor,” Hunnicutt said.

Hunnicutt said other unknowns were crop weather, a big ticket item that fails and has to be repaired, and, again, the commodity markets.

LaRiccia added, drawing laugher from the audience, “It would have been easier to say, ‘What is not a stressor to farmers?’”

Hunnicutt said that he preaches “doom and gloom” but, “Farming’s a lifestyle. Farming’s good when you can end the day, thirty minutes before dark, and look at the sunset. So, you got to remember there is a lot of plusses put into the lifestyle.”

When a question about factors that have contributed to the recent significant rise in food prices was asked, Kichler replied, “That’s an interesting question because if you go out to eat it costs a lot more post-COVID than it does pre-COVID.”

He went on to say that he believed the factors included supply chain issues, logistics, interest rates, inflation and the cost to borrow money.

“All that plays into a factor. Higher food costs. It costs more money to produce. You know, sustainability is a problem that we have now in agriculture. It costs a lot of money to produce a crop … Labor. … There’s a lot of moving parts in agriculture. It’s pretty strained right now,” Kichler said.

Watson asked, “What sustainable farming practices are being adopted to ensure long-term productivity and environmental health?”

“I think we’re in survival mode,” Kichler said. “There’s always something that farmers are facing and it can impact yield but the profit margins … Profit margins are so slim right now and we can’t afford any hiccoughs.”

Blalock replied, “You know, Emily, we strive so much at the Expo with the universities and with the companies to come up with the latest technology to make farmers more efficient. … But you can only become so efficient. It has a ceiling and when you’re selling crops in 2024 for what you sold them for in 1965, that’s a stressor.”

As far as what the panel envisions for the future of agriculture in the region, over the next decade, Blalock answered, “Well, we have job security. Cause people like to eat three meals a day. They like having clothes across their back and blue jeans on. They like having a roof over their heads. And the farmers are gonna continue to produce and feed the world.”

He also said that they had to come up with ways, on the state and federal level, to make sure that farming continues to be sustainable as an industry.

He gave an example of how farmers are currently selling corn at $3 or $4 and a bag of Tostitos, before COVID was $2.99 and now it’s $6.99.

“Obviously, Tostitos does a better job of marketing than the corn farmers do. But those are the things that we’re up against,” he said. “People say, ‘Well, if you let them starve, they’ll learn their lesson.’ If we get to that point, folks, it’s too late.”

He said that it was a national security issue that the US can feed, clothe and provide shelter for itself and it takes big farms, little farms, backyard gardens and everybody to feed the world moving forward.

“We’ve all got to work together,” Blalock said.

When Watson asked how the next generation of farmers could be encouraged and supported Burt said, “The support that you give those farmers is pretty essential and getting them involved in youth organization such as the FFA or, when they graduate high school, organizations such as the Young Farmers program.”

He added that just knowing that they had a backing to support anything and everything that they do in their endeavors was pretty essential.

Burt also said that when people go to vote for the next politicians, they should look at the policies and how they will impact farmers.

“And anything we can do buying local, putting a shout out on social media pages for what local farmers do and coming to the Four Daughters Cattle Company and buying the local meat. Anything, like that. Just to know that we do care. Simplistic but it goes so far,” he said.

LaRiccia advised the audience against letting their young folks ride with a farmer when prices were high, commodity prices were low and input costs were high.

“Because we do hear that,” he said.

He said that the Department of Agriculture has an internship program where it introduces kids to the production side, the agribusiness side, technology and extension.

“But we do hear from young people,” LaRiccia said and recounted that a state candidate for a national FFA office recently told him that all they heard was how terrible everything was in farming.

“And to some degree, he’s right. It’s tough. It is a tough way to make a living, to be profitable. To provide for your family while trying to feed everybody else’s,” he said.

However, LaRiccia said, when he asked the FFA student, “On a scale of one to ten, how important is agriculture and having future leaders?,” the student replied that it was a “ten.”

“So I immediately changed his mindset about what you’re struggling for. Maybe we need to preach that side a little more about the importance of agriculture and that the meaning and the purpose that it gives those that do it every day,” he said.

The last question for the panel of agricultural experts was, “How else can this community support farmers and the agriculture industry in Colquitt County?”

Plenn said that harvest time was coming up to just be patient when driving behind a combine or a cotton picker.

Burt said, “Sign your kids up for an Ag class,” and Watson added, “Sign them up for two. Fall and Spring semester,” which drew laughter from the audience.

LaRiccia said that he thought that gratitude went a long way and telling them how much they were appreciated.

“It really is very difficult, especially in this country,” he said. “I think community support and an outpouring of gratitude to our American farmers or the producers is huge.”

“I’ve got one to sum it up,” said Blalock. “We’ve got a lot of great places in this county to buy local produce and proteins. How blessed we are with that. So the mantra is, ‘Buy local.’ Know where it came from, know who grew it. That’s just as important as anything.”