Recession slams Georgia agriculture industry - Atlanta Journal Constitution
Agricultural exports, which surged by an unprecedented $33 billion to new highs last year, are now expected to fall by $20 billion this year.
Farm incomes, which also reached records last year, are now projected to drop 17 percent, according to recently released figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “What a difference 12 months make,” Joseph Glauber, chief economist for the Agriculture Department recently told a congressional committee exploring the recession’s impact on the agriculture industry.
Georgia is one of the East Coast’s biggest agriculture states and is the nation’s largest producer of peanuts, poultry and pecans.
Like their counterparts elsewhere, many Georgia farmers had a banner year last year, despite the recession that ravaged other industries.
But suddenly, that’s changing for many.
We “may never have seen such a transition from such a successful year to one of the worst we’ve seen in many years,” said Don McGough, commodities/marketing director for the Georgia Farm Bureau.
New York TimesA Retreat for Roosevelt and More Recent Arrivals in the valley as well as a diversified farming operation that provided jobs for them. David and Katherine Johnson, who retired to Pine Mountain Valley eight years ago from nearby Columbus, Ga., see themselves as part of a second wave of settlement.