Published 8:05 am Wednesday, August 19, 2026 When Hurricane Helene tore through south Georgia in 2024, it took down 400 acres of 40-year-old pine timber on our family’s farm in Nicholls. My brother and I had spent our lives growing that stand. It was our retirement, gone in an afternoon. I’m 65, and I’ll tell you straight: I cried. Grown men cried that week all across our county. What got us through wasn’t a check from Wall Street. It was the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the people in our local office who knew our operation, knew our family, and knew how to fit the right programs to the work we do. Without USDA programs, and without the experienced people who deliver them, agriculture in Georgia would cease to exist. I mean that. That’s why I’m worried about what’s happening at USDA right now, and every farmer in this state should be too. Our family has been on this land for generations. My great-grandfather worked some of these acres. My dad built the timber business. My brother and I have grown it. Today we run about 1,500 acres of timberland, 500 acres of row crops, and 80 acres of blueberries. My son cares about this dirt the same way I do, and I want to hand it off in better shape than I got it. Every farmer I know is the same way. We’re born conservationists. God lets us steward this land for a short time, and our job is to leave it better. USDA conservation programs make that possible and they pay for themselves. On our blueberries, I plant cereal grains as a…
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