TIFTON, Ga.— “The 2006 peanut crop will go down in history as the most expensive crop ever produced,” says Armond Morris, chairman of the Georgia Peanut Commission (GPC). Morris and twelve more peanut farmers and board representatives wrote a letter addressing their concerns on the current disaster for Georgia’s farmers.

Irrigated farmers in Georgia have had to make tough decisions this year as fuel prices have soared higher. In 2004 it cost $4.25 to put an inch of water on an acre of land and now that cost has risen to $12. LP gas for drying peanuts has increased 28 percent in the last year. Additionally, fertilizer and crop protectants are all tied to petroleum cost.

USDA recently declared 155 Georgia counties disaster areas, which makes farmers eligible for low interest loans. The GPC board members signing onto the letter has a suggestion for Congress to help farmers now. The farmers are asking Congress to make a payment immediately to all producers equal to the current direct payments that the farmer receives since energy has hit every farmer hard. After which funds should be made available for the producers who demonstrate a yield loss sufficient to qualify for the traditional disaster assistance program. The farmers recommend to Congress that the farmers’ disaster payments should be adjusted downward by an amount equal to any payments the farmer received under the doubling of the direct payments.

“If something is not done many, and we seriously mean many farmers will not be able to farm in the future. This will have a ripple effect through the rural economy of the South, which is already struggling,” Morris says. “We need an influx of cash now, something to help farmers survive and cash to fuel the rural economy. And, we need a comprehensive disaster program to help mitigate the double whammy of weather and skyrocketing energy costs.”

The disaster letter was sent to the congressional delegation from Georgia including U.S. Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson and U.S. Representatives John Barrow, Sanford Bishop, Nathan Deal, Phil Gingrey, Jack Kingston, John Lewis, John Linder, Jim Marshall, Cynthia McKinney, Charlie Norwood, Tom Price, David Scott, Lynn Westmoreland.

“This program will help all farmers in proportion to their needs,” Morris says. “It recognizes that this year losses have been in more than yield and that some were serious economic losses, which has hurt many of our best farmers.”

Interview Opportunity: Armond Morris
GPC chairman and peanut farmer from Ocilla, Ga.
Mobile: 229-424-3527

Read the letter sent to Georgia's Congressional Delegation.