Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 20

COURTESY GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

'These pecan trees were
planted in 1910 by my
great-grandfather
Cader Cox. These
trees are just such a
generational loss.
For a lot of farmers,
they have insurance on
the crop, but not on the
trees themselves.'
-Casey Cox, a sixth-generation
producer of pecans, corn,
peanuts and timber in Camilla

Continued from page 18

Relief, resilience

'We're optimistic'

"There's not been a day on the job yet that I
haven't worked on Hurricane Michael relief in one
way or another," says Dale Sandlin, who took on
the role of executive vice president for the Georgia
Cattleman's Association last April. He notes that
550,000 head of Georgia cattle and calves were
affected by the hurricane. "Producers I've spoken
with are still hurting from the storm. Many of them
experienced total loss; their house, barn, farm-
everything is gone.
"One thing that's struck me, though, is their
resilience. No matter what that damage is, they want
to continue their operation."
Of agriculture commodities, timber was the
hardest-hit in Georgia, with destruction of or damage to almost 37.7 million tons of timber valued at
approximately $763 million.
"That's the equivalent of 1.5 million log-truck
loads of timber," Williams says. He notes that the
hurricane has caused timber growers to view their
crop differently.
"Forest land owners have thought of timber as
an asset that could be monetized based on market
condition and personal needs," he says. "Timber
represented a significant portion of their retirement
assets or child's college fund. The hurricane made
people realize large, mature timber is not an ironclad, risk-free investment. They saw that a 50-year
investment can blow away in two hours."
GFC Forest Management Chief Scott Griffin has
had boots on the ground in Georgia's timberland
since the storm.
"The week after the hurricane, we talked with
people who never wanted to see another pine tree,
and that was understandable," Griffin says. "But now
people are ready to get moving again."

Since the storm, some farmers have gone out of business,
some have reorganized and others are still figuring it out.
"It's a challenge for agriculture; there's no doubt about it,"
Long says. "But we're optimists, or we wouldn't be farming."
Bob McLendon farms 7,000 acres in row crops and timber
in Leary. He estimates his losses of irrigation systems, crops,
timber and buildings at well over $1 million. Many of his
neighbors experienced similar losses.
"Nobody has given up," McLendon says. "We have good
prices, bad prices, good weather, dry weather, but we're
optimistic that it's always going to be better next year."
Eric Cohen, chairman of the board of directors for Grady
Electric Membership Corp. in Cairo, produces pecans in
Bainbridge and Seminole County. He lost 30,000 mature pecan
trees in the storm.
"Hurricane Michael devastated my farm plus everybody
else's in my area," Cohen says. "The morning after the storm,
I told my wife we need to take about 15 minutes to cry about
this, and then we've got to lace up our boots and go. My brother
and I built this farm, and it was taken away from us in four
hours. We built it once; we can do it again."
Jackie Kennedy is a freelance writer living in LaGrange.

Georgia Magazine

January 2020

Ag losses in Georgia
The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension has
estimated direct losses caused by Hurricane Michael.
* Timber: $763 million
* Cotton: $550 million to $600 million
* Pecans: $560 million
* Vegetables: $480 million
* Poultry: $28 million
* Peanuts: $10 million to $20 million
* Green industry (container and field nurseries,
greenhouse and turf ): $13 million
* Soybeans: $10 million

Georgia Magazine - January 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - January 2020