Monthly Newsletter for Georgia Agribusiness Council Members
NOVEMBER 2020
GOVERNOR KEMP, COMMISSIONER BLACK CONFIRMED FOR HARVEST CELEBRATION
We are excited to announce that Governor Brian P. Kemp and Ag Commissioner Gary W. Black, as well as several key state legislators, will be in attendance for the November 20th Harvest Celebration in Forsyth, GA. We are also excited that First Lady Marty Kemp will be joining us during the events. These statewide leaders have been instrumental in keeping agribusiness Georgia's #1 industry and we appreciate their continued support.

Thanks to our wonderful membership, The Harvest Celebration sporting clays tournament has a full slate of shooting teams. We still have limited spaces available for lunch as well as the cookie decorating and floral arrangement classes, but spots are filling up quickly. Please let Maggie Wooten, mwooten@ga-agribusiness.org, know ASAP if you would like to join us.

Event Schedule -
Meadows Gun Club Forsyth, GA
8am - Registration opens
8:30am - Safety Talk, Sporting Clays to immediately follow
10am - Holiday Floral Arrangement & Cookie Decorating Demonstrations
12pm (Or Upon Completion) - Lunch Program
1pm - Field of Dreams drawing

Again, THANK YOU, to our wonderful sponsors and participants for supporting the GAC Foundation through the Harvest Celebration this year.
Harvest Celebration Platinum Sponsors
GEORGIA ELECTION RECAP
One week later and the dust is still settling on the election for President of the United States. It appears as though Vice-President Joe Biden has pulled off a victory, bolstered by the unexpected win in Georgia, against President Donald J. Trump. While several states have yet to certify the results, and others have been engaged with legal action, the Biden campaign has moved forward with inauguration plans and building out an administration as the President-Elect.

What we do know at this point is that both races for the U.S. Senate seats in Georgia are heading to a runoff as the focus of the Country, and seemingly the World, will be centered right here in our State for the next two months. Incumbent Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue will face off against challenges from Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectfully, for the chance to represent Georgians in Washington, DC, and most importantly to people across the country, decide which party has control of the US Senate.
There were not many surprises in the races for the US House of Representatives in Georgia as most of the races played out how the "experts" predicted going into election day. The biggest news of the day came as Carolyn Bourdeaux (D) was successful in flipping District 7 from Republican control after the retirement of Congressman Rob Woodall.

One huge change that could impact Georgia agriculture happened in Minnesota with the defeat of Democrat Collin Peterson, who presided over the House Agriculture Committee. This is a big deal because long time GAC friend, Congressman David Scott, is currently the ranking member of the Committee and has already made it clear to GAC staff that he will be seeking support as he makes a run for the all important Agriculture Committee Chairmanship.

Back on the state level, it appears that GAC member and friend, Jason Shaw, has kept his seat on the powerful Public Service Commission as the other race on the PSC between Bubba McDonald (R) and Daniel Blackman (D) will go to a runoff.

Georgia Republicans were able to beat back the supposed "blue wave" that some had predicted in the suburbs of Atlanta to retain control of both the House and the Senate. This is extremely notable as the Republican party will now be in charge of the reapportionment process that is scheduled to take place in 2021. After all of the votes were counted, the House will be made up of 103 Republicans and 77 Democrats, according to current Secretary of State's website information. The Senate will have a 34 R to 22 D split. Notably, Democrats were able to pick up the seat held by Chairman P.K. Martin in the Senate as well as House Ways and Means Chairman Brett Harrell in the House. Republicans fought back and were able to defeat the House Minority Leader Bob Trammell in his relatively rural district. Overall, Republican leadership feels satisfied that they were able to fend off the big loses that occurred in 2018 and maintain their dominance of politics Under the Gold Dome for a few more years. Georgia Speaker of the House David Ralston was rewarded by his fellow legislators on Monday as he was re-elected Speaker by a vote of 90-2.

As we've stated many times before, GAC prides itself on the relationships that we have on both sides of the aisle on the state and national level. We stand ready to welcome back the members that were re-elected and we look forward to building relationships with those incoming freshmen. Agribusiness issues are too important to be dealt with on a strictly partisan basis. Because of the relationships that you all have throughout the state, and the support that is offered to legislators through the Georgia AgPAC, we expect GAC to remain strong and impactful in the upcoming legislative session and beyond.

If you wish to see the results of local elections CLICK HERE.
GEORGIA: BALLOT QUESTION RESULTS
Last week Georgia voters had the opportunity to vote on two constitutional amendments as well as a statewide referendum. The questions listed on the ballot were aimed to look at government fees and lawsuits, as well as property tax breaks for certain charities. The results for each of the questions are listed below.
Amendment 1: Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to authorize the General Assembly to dedicate revenues derived from fees or taxes to the public purpose for which such fees or taxes were intended?

Result: Passed Yes: 81.63% No: 18.37%
Amendment 2: Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to waive sovereign immunity and allow the people of Georgia to petition the superior court for relief from governmental acts done outside the scope of lawful authority or which violate the laws of this state, the Constitution of Georgia, or the Constitution of the United States?
Result: Passed Yes: 74.46% No: 25.54%
Referendum A: Shall the Act be approved which provides an exemption from ad valorem taxes for all real property owned by a purely public charity, if such charity is exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the federal Internal Revenue Code and such real property is held exclusively for the purpose of building or repairing single-family homes to be financed by such charity to individuals using loans that shall not bear interest?
Result: Passed Yes: 73.08% No: 26.92%
CFAP1 Winds Down; CFAP2 Issues Additional $8 Billion 
USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) has told state and county offices they need to make sure that any applicants for CFAP 1 who have not provided the needed forms or documentation to FSA must do so by November 20. FSA is closing out the CFAP 1 effort and “de-obligating” funds for the program on December 11.

As of November 1st, the agency had approved nearly $8.8 billion in CFAP2 payments, up slightly more than one billion dollars from last week and the lowest week over week increase since payments began.

Payments to corn growers remain at the top of the list at nearly $2.5 billion, followed by cattle with more than $1.9 billion, sales commodities moved up again for another week to more than $982 million, soybeans at nearly $947 million, and milk at more than $877 million.

Eligible Commodities for CFAP 2
Coronavirus Food Assistance Program 2, or CFAP 2, will provide producers with financial assistance that gives them the ability to absorb some of the increased marketing costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. USDA will accept CFAP 2 applications from September 21, 2020 through December 11, 2020. Learn more at farmers.gov/cfap.

CFAP 2 payments will be made for three categories of commodities – Price Trigger Commodities, Flat-Rate Crops, and Sales Commodities. Eligible commodities for each category are outlined below.

Price Trigger Commodities
Price trigger commodities are major commodities that meet a minimum five-percent price decline over a specified period of time. Price trigger commodities eligible for CFAP 2 are outlined below.
  • Broilers and eggs
  • Crops: barley, corn, sorghum, soybeans, sunflowers, upland cotton, and all classes of wheat.
  • Dairy (cow’s milk)
  • Livestock: beef cattle, hogs and pigs, and lambs and sheep. Breeding stock are not eligible for CFAP 2.

Flat-Rate Crops
Flat-rate crops either do not meet the five-percent price decline trigger or do not have data available to calculate a price change.
Flat-rate crops include: alfalfa, amaranth grain, buckwheat, canola, Extra Long Staple (ELS) cotton, crambe (colewort), einkorn, emmer, flax, guar, hemp, indigo, industrial rice, kenaf, khorasan, millet, mustard, oats, peanuts, quinoa, rapeseed, rice, sweet rice, wild rice, rye, safflower, sesame, speltz, sugar beets, sugarcane, teff, and triticale.

Sales Commodities
Sales commodities eligible for CFAP 2 include specialty crops, aquaculture, nursery crops and floriculture, and other commodities not included in the price trigger and flat-rate payment categories.
Sales commodities eligible for CFAP 2 are outlined below.
  • Aquaculture:
  • Any species of aquatic organisms grown as food for human consumption
  • Fish raised as feed for fish that are consumed by humans
  • Ornamental fish propagated and reared in an aquatic medium.
  • Eligible aquaculture species must be raised by a commercial operator and in water in a controlled environment. This includes molluscan shellfish and seaweed that was previously covered under the U.S. Department of Commerce program.
  • Dairy (goat's milk)
  • Floriculture and Nursery Crops: 
  • Cactus
  • Christmas trees
  • Floriculture – Cut flowers and cut greenery from annual and perennial flowering plants grown in a container or controlled environment for commercial sale.
  • Nursery crops – Decorative or nondecorative plants grown in a container or controlled environment for commercial sale.
  • Specialty Crops: More than 230 fruit, vegetable, horticulture, and tree nut commodities are eligible for CFAP 2 along with honey and maple sap.
  • Fruits – abiu, acerola (Barbados cherry), achachairu, antidesma, apples, apricots, aronia (chokeberry), atemoya (custard apple), bananas, blueberries, breadfruit, cacao, caimito, calabaza melon, canary melon, canary seed, caneberries, canistel, cantaloupes, carambola (star fruit), casaba melon, cherimoya (sugar apple), cherries, Chinese bitter melon, citron, citron melon, coconuts, cranberries, crenshaw melon, dates, donaqua (winter melon), durian, elderberries, figs, genip, gooseberries, grapefruit, grapes, ground cherry, guamabana (soursop), guava, guavaberry, honeyberries, honeydew, huckleberries, Israel melons, jack fruit, jujube, juneberries, kiwiberry, kiwifruit, Korean golden melon, kumquats, langsat, lemons, limequats, limes, longan, loquats, lychee, mangos, mangosteen, mayhaw berries, mesple, mulberries, nectarines, oranges, papaya, passion fruits, pawpaw, peaches, pears, pineapple, pitaya (dragon fruit), plantain, plumcots, plums, pomegranates, prunes, pummelo, raisins, rambutan, sapodilla, sapote, schizandra berries, sprite melon, star gooseberry, strawberries, tangelos, tangerines, tangors, wampee, watermelon, wax jamboo fruit, and wolfberry (goji).
  • Honey
  • Horticulture – anise, basil, cassava, chervil (Fresh parsley), chia, chicory (radicchio), cilantro, cinnamon, curry leaves, galanga, ginger, ginseng, guayule, herbs, hops, lotus root, marjoram, meadowfoam, mint, moringa, niger seed, oregano, parsley, pennycress, peppermint, pohole, psyllium, rosemary, sage, savory, shrubs (forbs), sorrel, spearmint, tangos, tea, thyme, turmeric, vanilla, wasabi, water cress, and yu cha.
  • Maple sap
  • Tree Nuts – almonds, avocados, carob, cashew, chestnuts, coffee, hazel nuts, jojoba, macadamia nuts, noni, olives, pecans, persimmons, pine nuts, pistachios, quinces, and walnuts.
  • Vegetables – alfalfa sprouts, aloe vera, artichokes, arugula (greens), asparagus, bamboo shoots, batatas, bean sprouts, beans (including dry edible), beets, bok choy, broccoflower, broccoli, broccolini, broccolo-cavalo, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, calaloo, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, chickpea (see beans, garbanzo), chives, collard greens, coriander, corn, sweet, cucumbers, daikon, dandelion greens, dasheen (taro root, malanga), dill, eggplant, endive, escarole, frisee, gailon (gai lein, Chinese broccoli), garlic, gourds, greens, horseradish, Jerusalem artichokes (sunchoke), kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lentils, lettuce, melongene, mesculin mix, microgreens, mushrooms, okra, onions, parsnip, peas (including dry edible), pejibaye (heart of palm), peppers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, radicchio, radishes, rhubarb, rutabaga, salsify (oyster plant), scallions, seed - vegetable, shallots, spinach, squash, swiss chard, tannier, taro, tomatillos, tomatoes, truffles, turnip top (greens), turnips, yam, and yautia (malanga).
  • Specialty Livestock: Animals commercially raised for food, fur, fiber, or feathers, and includes alpacas, bison, buffalo, beefalo, deer, ducks, elk, emus, geese, goats, guinea pigs, llamas, mink (including pelts), mohair, ostrich, pheasants, quail, rabbits, reindeer, turkey, water buffalo, and yak. Breeding stock are not eligible for CFAP 2.
  • Tobacco
  • Wool
Ineligible Commodities for CFAP 2
Commodities not eligible for CFAP 2 include:
  • Hay, except for alfalfa, and crops intended for grazing.
  • All equine, breeding stock, companion or comfort animals, pets, and animals raised for hunting or game purposes.
  • Birdsfoot and trefoil, clover, cover crop, fallow, forage soybeans, forage sorghum, gardens (commercial and home), grass, kochia (prostrata), lespedeza, milkweed, mixed forage, pelts (excluding mink), perennial peanuts, pollinators, sunn hemp, vetch, and seed of ineligible crops.
 
Additional CFAP 2 Information
Farm Service Agency staff at local USDA Service Centers will work with producers to file CFAP 2 applications. Producers interested in one-on-one support with the CFAP 2 application can also call 877-508-8364 to speak directly with a USDA employee ready to offer assistance at our call center.
Visit farmers.gov/cfap for additional information on Coronavirus Food Assistance Program 2, CFAP 2 eligibility, payment limitations and structure, and how to apply.
EPA SEEKS INPUT ON FARM PESTS
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is asking for input on an updated list of “pests deemed of significant health importance,” which was last released in 2002.

The list will include several new pests, such as the brown dog tick, and describe new public health impacts, such as Zika fever and the coronavirus. The list is used to prioritize public health efforts.

“EPA, CDC and USDA collaborated to update the list to incorporate significant changes regarding vector-borne diseases and related research, and eliminate gaps or ambiguities in the current pests list,” EPA said. EPA specifically asked whether there are any pests, such as the Asian giant hornet or the Turkestan cockroach, that should be added to the list.
USDA- NRCS ANNOUNCES EQIP SIGN UP IN GEORGIA
State Conservationist Terrance O. Rudolph of the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has announced the statewide cutoff for fiscal year 2021 Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) funding. All Georgia agricultural producers and landowners who wish to be considered for this year’s technical and financial assistance should apply by November 20, 2020.

While customers can apply year round, this application cutoff announcement is for all general EQIP and special initiatives such as the Longleaf Pine, On-Farm Energy, Organic, Seasonal High Tunnel and the Working Lands for Wildlife. 
NMPF Asks for FDA Action on Proper Milk Labeling
The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) recently asked the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s ombudsman to ensure that rules are properly enforced.
“Allowing unlawfully labeled ‘plant-based’ imitation dairy foods to proliferate poses an immediate and growing risk to public health; it is a clear dereliction of the FDA’s duty to enforce federal law and agency regulations,” NMPF president and chief executive officer Jim Mulhern wrote in the letter, sent to FDA ombudsman Dr. Laurie Lenkel. “The FDA’s Office of the Ombudsman must intervene to break the bureaucratic logjam that is adversely affecting consumers. Doing so would fit squarely within the office’s own mission to ensure even-handed application of FDA policy and procedures.”

According to the agency, the ombudsman, based in the FDA commissioner’s office, “serves as a neutral and independent resource for members of FDA-regulated industries when they experience problems with the regulatory process.”
Save the Date!
Jan. 20, 2021
1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Jan. 21, 2021
8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

University of Georgia Tifton Campus Conference Center
Tifton, Georgia

Don't miss out on the 45th annual Georgia Peanut Farm Show & Conference, set for Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 20-21, 2021, at the UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center. Peanut farmers and those involved in the peanut industry will be able to learn more about the latest products, services and peanut research at the show, which is sponsored by the Georgia Peanut Commission. 

Exhibit space is still available and the deadline for the early-bird rate is Nov. 6, 2020.
ASMARK INSTITUTE - Safe & Sound Online Training 

The Safe & Sound Online Training Management tool is ideal for organizations seeking a comprehensive training solution that incorporates advanced technologies to help manage their employee training from start to finish, simplifying and streamlining the process.

Other features include:

  • Thirty-one ag-specific topics on DVD, licensed for on-site use
  • Manage your employee list
  • Order personalized new hire, re-hire or supplemental training kits
  • Track results on your personal dashboard
  • And much more!

Click here for more information. This link will take your members directly to our website to learn more about the Safe & Sound Online Training Management tool.
Brooksco Dairy, LLC
Carroll EMC
Crosby Equipment Company
DeWitt Produce Co. Inc.
Doerun Gin Co. Inc.
Ft. Valley State University
Georgia Development Authority
J & B Irrigation Inc.
Jaemor Farms
L H R Farms, Inc.
Superior Pine Products Company
The Turfgrass Group, Inc.
WDairy LLC
Agri-Business Supply Inc.
Barrington Dairy, LLC
Bay Branch Farms, Inc.
Bill Hembree & Associates / Nationwide
Boddiford Farm Services Inc.
Chester Timber LLC
Clay Co. & Associates
Coley Gin & Fertilizer
CSA Farms, Inc.
Curry Farm Supply Inc.
Docia Farms
Drexel Chemical Company
Durden Banking Company, Inc.
Easterlin Pecan Company
Edison Gin Co-Op Inc.
Emanuel Peanut & Grain
Embry Farm Service/ Embry Transport
GA Agricultural Commodity for Tobacco
Georgia Christmas Tree Association
Georgia Seed Association Inc.
H. T. McLendon Co.
Hattaway Farms Partnership
Hazel Creek Cider, Inc. / Yearwood Farms, Inc.
Holder Ag Consulting
Israel Farm Supply, Inc.
KAKEGA LLC
McCorkle Nurseries, Inc.
Moultrie Colquitt County Development Authority
Northeast Georgia Livestock
Patrick Farms
Peebles Timber, Inc.
Quality Gin, Inc.
Sconyers Gin & Warehouse Co. 
South Georgia Produce Inc.
Southeastern AGRI Services, LLC
Southern AGCOM Inc.
Southern Seed Co., Inc.
Swainsboro Stockyard
The Dairy Alliance, Inc.
Wells Fargo Commercial Banking
West Georgia Processing, Inc.

Special thanks to all of our Star Sponsors. Please call our office at 706-336-6830 for details. Thank you!
This information is intended for members of the Georgia Agribusiness Council, Inc. No part of this document shall be copied, edited, or redistributed in any form without express written consent from the Georgia Agribusiness Council, Inc.
Georgia Agribusiness Council | 706-336-6830 | WWW.GA-AGRIBUSINESS.ORG