Ag News
Sunbelt Expo Celebrates Ag while remembering Hurricane's impact
Posted on Oct 23, 2024 at 23:42 PM
The show went on, but as members of the Southeastern ag community gathered for Sunbelt Ag Expo Oct. 15-17 in Moultrie, they paid tribute to their fellow farmers and rural residents in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina who suffered catastrophic damage from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
“We’re praying for all affected by these recent storms from Florida to the Appalachian Mountains,” Sunbelt Executive Director Chip Blalock said at the Expo opening ceremony. He went on to mention that longtime Expo supporter R.W. Griffin, a feed, seed and fertilizer business that includes cotton gins and peanut buying points, sustained damage to their operation based in Douglas and their homes. The opening ceremony is held annually in the Griffin pavilion.
During the Willie B. Withers Luncheon held on opening day, the Sunbelt Ag Expo Board of Directors presented $1,000 donations to the Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina Tennessee and Virginia Farm Bureaus to help farmers in these states who have suffered recent storm damage.
Georgia Farm Bureau President Tom McCall accepted the generous donation for Georgia, which was deposited in the Weathered But Strong Hurricane Helene Relief Fund being coordinated by the Georgia Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Foundation for Agriculture with support from Georgia Farm Bureau and 40 other Georgia ag organizations. If you would like to make a donation, visit www.supportgeorgiafarmers.org . 100% of the funds donated will be distributed to farmers who suffered storm damage. Details on how farmers can apply for the funds from Nov. 15 to Dec. 31 will be announced soon.
Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper welcomed Expo guests from out-of-state to the 46th annual show saying, “This year has been pretty tough on our farmers even before Hurricane Helene struck what with high inflation, high input costs and low commodity prices. I'm concerned about the future of agriculture, but if we work together to get the right policy and realize that having a successful agriculture sector is a national security issue, I'm confident we can prevail.”
N.C.’s Whitaker named Expo Farmer of Year; Redmond represents Georgia
History was made at this year’s Sunbelt when Faylene Whitaker of Climax, N.C., became the first woman to be named the Sunbelt Ag Expo Farmer of the Year. Whitaker and her family produce tobacco, nursery plants, tomatoes and other vegetables, strawberries, organic corn and wheat. Whitaker Farms & Garden Nursery operates at three different locations near Climax on 940 acres of owned and rented land and includes an agritourism venue.
She and her late husband, Richard, farmed together for 50 years until his death last year. The couple started growing tobacco in 1975, two years after they married, on 10 acres of rented land using a 150 International tractor and a $40 tobacco setter. After they sold their first tobacco crop, they used the money to buy 36.5 acres of land and expanded into the nursery business of growing trees. The Whitakers’ oldest son, Shane, and his wife, Kelly, farm with Faylene, along with a nephew, but Faylene runs the operation.
Bruce Redmond of Effingham County represented Georgia in the contest. Redmond started farming on his own, growing peanuts and cotton. He took over the family's operation, Shiloh Farms, after his dad, Larry, died in 2018. Today, Bruce farms 2,800 acres of rented and owned farmland, including both dryland and irrigated acres of peanuts and cotton. Shiloh Farms has grown certified Tifton 9 Bahiagrass seed since the 1990s and is now the largest producer of certified Bahiagrass seed in the Southeast.
Redmond has served on his local USDA Farm Service Agency Committee for seven years. He supports Effingham 4-H and the Effingham Young Farmers Association and is an Effingham County Farm Bureau member. He and his wife, Jillian, have four daughters.
UGA Extension Agent Blake Carter nominated Redmond for the award.
Exhibits & demos reason for Expo
For 46 years Sunbelt Expo has been connecting farmers with ag organizations and companies that offer services or products that can make their farms more productive. This year was no different.
In the Georgia Ag Building at Expo’s main gate, Georgia Farm Bureau (GFB) and Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) staff were on hand to tell attendees about the work each does to help farmers.
GDA’s exhibit highlighted 2024 being the 150th anniversary of the GDA. A walkable timeline highlighted significant milestones since the department was founded in 1874. Georgia was the first state to establish a department of agriculture. Georgia Grown vendors were set up in the Expo Family Living Building next door and their products were featured daily in cooking demos.
GFB greeted visitors to its exhibit with swag bags and discussed the organization’s advocacy efforts in Atlanta and D.C. for farmers. GFB Public Policy staff promoted the I Farm. I Vote. Campaign that encourages voters to think about how candidates and ballot issues will impact agriculture. Expo attendees also had the chance to cast their vote to answer the fun-natured question regarding how pecan is pronounced – puh-kahn or pee-can. More votes were cast for the second pronunciation.
Florida, featured as the 2024 Sunbelt Expo Spotlight State, pulled out all the stops to highlight its agriculture sector that includes 44,703 farms covering 26 million acres. According to Florida ag officials, agriculture and agribusinesses contribute $213.8 billion to Florida’s economy.
When guests entered the primary entrance on the west side of the exhibit, they could explore a fascinating display of antique farm implements Florida farmers used in the last two centuries. Directly across from this display, a hologram theatre let guests time travel from the 1500s when Ponce de Leon introduced cattle to the colony to present day when modern technology is taking agriculture to new heights.
Displays from the center of the building to the east entrance highlighted the many commodities Florida farmers produce. Guests had the chance to taste-test Florida recipe samples and take a photo in front of a colorful backdrop of oranges and green succulents. Florida Farm Bureau gave guests a pine seedling to take home to plant.
“We’re very proud for this to be our year to be spotlighted. We appreciate everyone coming today despite such trying conditions. We’ve had four hurricanes hit us [Florida] in the past year,” Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson said. “Agriculture is the second leading driver of Florida’s economy and provides jobs for about 2.2 million Floridians. A lot of times when we think of national security, we think about oil, but what would happen if we had no food in our grocery stores for seven or 30 days? We need to make sure we treat farming for what it is [a matter of national security]. Anything we can do to bring ag back from these storm crises we’ve experienced is a need.”
Florida was the first Sunbelt Ag Expo Spotlight State in 1981 when Expo first started highlighting a different Southeastern state each year, Expo Executive Director Chip Blalock said. This is the fifth year the state has been featured. Georgia will be the 2025 spotlight state.
Out in the field
Expo attendees had the chance to see self-driving tractors and drones in action at demo plots beside the main road of the show’s research farm.
Sabanto has developed software that can be installed in John Deere, Kubota, and Fendt tractors that “drives” the equipment within the coordinate parameters you set. Sabanto representative Mike Burdick said the technology has been readily adopted by turfgrass producers who have to run a tractor over their sod 2-3 times a week to maintain it. Ag Technologies based in Cordele is the area dealer for the autonomous tractor software.
BestWay Ag, based in Kentucky, demonstrated how their Fly Cart 30 can be used in multiple scenarios on the farm to carry payloads of up to 80 lbs., such as moving Christmas tree seedlings up a mountain to be planted. A smaller drone on display is used to fly over crops to gather crop health data to help farmers determine what types of pesticides/herbicides they need to apply to produce a healthy crop.
Jeff Clack with BestWay Ag said the company volunteered their time and drones to help with relief efforts in Western Kentucky prior to attending Expo. A speaker was attached to the small drone and flown into isolated neighborhoods to tell residents a large drone would be coming to drop off supplies of water, baby formula & food. Clack stressed that anyone with a drone interested in helping should always coordinate with the local Emergency Management Agency so they can secure FAA clearance & be assigned an air grid.
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