Peach Crop Survives Cold Temps

There is good news from Georgia farmers concerning the state’s peach crop. The freezing overnight temperatures of this week did not damage the fruit crop in middle Georgia. The Georgia Peach Council's executive director says early varieties of peaches should be ready for harvesting by about the middle of next month.

Tropical Storm Fay could hurt Georgia farmers

As Tropical Storm Fay makes its way through South Georgia, farmers there are doing the best they can to save their crops.
Farmers in Southwest Georgia ran combines through the night to get their corn out of the fields. Tropical Storm Fay is bringing heavy winds and rain to the area. High winds can topple corn stalks and heavy rains can cause plants to rot in the fields.
With higher corn prices brought on by ethanol production, Georgia farmers planted over 300-thousand acres this year. A cool spring and a hot, dry summer has already hurt this year's crop. A flood could make the situation much worse.
This years crop could bring in more than 200-million dollars for Georgia's farmers, and much of that crop is grown in South Georgia.

Georgia tomato farmers hit hard by salmonella scare

(J. Bennet)

It's a 40-million dollar crop in Georgia, and now a recent salmonella scare has hit Georgia's farmers hard. Sales of tomatoes are down, and losses could total 8-million dollars.
And while Georgia tomatoes have been declared safe by the Food and Drug Administration, the media hype is still keeping customers away.
The FDA is telling consumers not to eat Roma, plum and red round tomatoes grown in California and some parts of Florida. Tomatoes from other states, including Georgia are safe.
Officials have expanded the search for salmonella to include Serrano peppers and cilantro often served with tomatoes in salsa.
Charles Hall is with the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Commission. He says the FDA is trying to protect consumers, but farmers are suffering.

"If it's not tomatoes we've got a lot of growers who have lost a lot of money because it was announced that it was tomatoes and consumers quit buying."

Sales of Georgia tomatoes are down around 70-percent. Many farmers are leaving them to rot in the fields. Farmers also face the dilemma of whether to even plant their fall tomato crops in the coming weeks.

Ruling goes against farmers in Georgia and other states

A 30-million dollar judgment in favor of peanut farmers in Georgia and six other states has been thrown out by a federal appeals court in Virginia. The lawsuit involving 38-hundred farmers dealt with a dispute over crop insurance payments. The three-judge panel Thursday sided with federal officials who had cut those payments by nearly half--it said under the 2002 Farm Bill farmers would only entitled to get around 18 cents a pound. Farmers claim the insurance program should cover 31 cents a pound for crops lost in the ’02 drought. An attorney for the farmers plans to appeal.

Drought means higher pumpkin prices

Growers have been forced to jack up the price of your jack-o-lantern this year.
Be prepared to spend more than last year when you head out to buy a pumpkin. Dry conditions across the Southeast have caused widespread shortages according to Clay Slaughter, who sells pumpkins at the Macon State Farmers Market.
He says he had to travel far to get his pumpkins with the added cost of fuel hiking prices.

"I had to go really north to get good pumpkins out of the State of Michigan. Tennessee pumpkins are not any good because of the drought. Georgia didn't have any pumpkins. Alabama, north Alabama normally grows a lot of pumpkins and the drought killed them too."

Pumpkins are normally planted around the Fourth of July and need temperatures below 90 degrees, and plenty of rain to grow. According to farmers the few pumpkins that did survive in Georgia this year are going to be very small.

Some Georgia farmers fear immigration reform

Georgia farmers want their voices heard in the debate over illegal immigration.

Many farmers are worried that local crackdowns on illegal immigrants will drive away needed workers. Some say Mexicans are the only ones who will work in the fields. They say crops are rotting in the fields while would-be legal workers are stuck abroad waiting for their visas. Some smaller farmers say they can’t afford the fees for the federal H-2 visa program that brings laborers into the country to work legally.

The American Farm Bureau Federation estimates that at least half of the nation's 1-million hired farm workers are illegal workers. Some immigration control groups contend that for every illegal worker, there's an unemployed American who could just as quickly fill the spot.