August 3, 2010
www.gfb.org
Vol. 28 No. 31
GILLIS RECOGNITION,PERDUE SPEECH HIGHLIGHTS OF GFB CONFERENCE During the lunch session of the Georgia Farm Bureau Commodity Conference July 29 at the UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center, retired Georgia Sen. Hugh Gillis received the Georgia Farm Bureau Commodity Award and Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue challenged farmers to add value at every step in the food supply chain in order to meet customers’ changing needs. Gillis, a charter board member of Treutlen County Farm Bureau who served a total of 56 years in the Georgia Legislature, has spent his life as a champion for forestry and issues affecting rural Georgia. He is one of the state’s pioneers in the cultivation of pine forests. “I’ve always enjoyed my work in forestry,” said Gillis. “I lived through the Great Depression and I know for a fact that if it hadn’t been for forestry a lot more people would have gone broke.” Gov. Perdue encouraged agricultural producers to keep the end customer in mind when making on-farm decisions and noted that continued food-safety diligence will be required at every stop between the farm and the customer’s table. “Sometimes I think we’re naturally focused on the production, logistics and marketing of our products to some degree,” Perdue said. “We sometimes get a little myopic in that way. I believe we’re missing some opportunities if we only enjoy working hard to produce something and don’t look beyond that.” The conference, GFB’s annual kickoff of its policy development process, included meetings of all 20 of GFB’s commodity advisory committees, whose members considered potential changes and additions to the organization’s policy. It also featured tours of the research farms at the UGA-Tifton campus and an update from Dr. Joe West, assistant dean of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES), who outlined cuts to the CAES budget. UGA Assistant Dean for Extension Dr. Steve Brown said that the Cooperative Extension Service is at a crossroads, with the number of agents reduced. He asked for help in deciding which direction to take the extension service. “Our ability to deliver the programs that Georgia ag is accustomed to has been compromised,” Dr. Brown said. “A lot of people in Atlanta don’t understand that things change daily. We have to have information to be on the cutting edge and be competitive. Imagine a world [where] the cooperative extension didn’t exist. Where would you get that information? We’re charged with providing information that is research-based and unbiased. Having that unbiased source of information is critical.”