Bubba Johnson checks freshly-dug peanuts on his Newton
farm on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007. (AP Photo/Todd Stone)
Southwest Georgia is one of the most productive agricultural regions in Dixie, but you wouldn't know it from the soil under the corn, peanuts and cotton. It can be sandy, it can be pebbly, and it doesn't hold water very well.
That begins to explain why irrigation is so vital around here — and why the mere suggestion that some of the region's water might be taken away fills folks with fear and resentment.
"Atlanta needs to take a hard look at what's happening in the metro area," said Bubba Johnson, a 68-year-old farmer who grows cotton and corn on a 500-acre plot. "There's going to be a heck of a battle if they try to come down here to get the water."Johnson, president of the Mitchell County Farm Bureau, is pushing his neighbors and lawmakers to fight for local control of water.
"Before any water is transferred out, you have to make sure needs here are taken care of," he said.Click here for more GPB News coverage of the drought.
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(The Associated Press)
