The Ancient Sport of Falconry is Alive in Georgia Pecans—a ...

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Olivers Named Farm Family of the Year The Oliver family of White County has been named Farm Family of the Year by the Upper Chattahoochee River Soil & Water Conservation District. Stanley “Stump” Oliver and his wife, Libby, have two children, Megan and Brent. The family raises laying hens, beef cattle, hay, and corn on their farm. They participate in the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) and utilize many conservation practices on their farm. The family has installed a Stackhouse and composter on each of their farms and practice prescribed grazing, nutrient management, pest management, and other conservation practices on the pastureland. The Olivers attend Woodlawn Baptist church. Stump is active in the community where he serves on the Farm Bureau Board, coached recreation and park ball for twelve years and high school ball for eight years. Libby is a parapro at Jack P. Nix Primary School. The Olivers are to be congratulated for their involvement in the community and their commitment to the wise use of natural resources. z The Oliver family, Megan, Brent, Stanley “Stump,” and Libby employ many conservation practices on their family farm. Megan is a freshman at Young Harris College but still lends a hand on the family farm. The Oliver family farm produces laying hens, beef cattle, hay, and corn. Top Corner: Brent Oliver manages his own farm in addition to helping out on the family farm. AgGeorgia.14.winter 2011
Outlook 2011: Managing Through Cycles By: Dr. David M. Kohl The other day while I was conducting a p r o d u c e r s e m i n a r , I met a couple who had encouraged their grandson to attend my seminar, which resulted in him missing classes at a land-grant university where he is studying agricultural business. In my previous life as a professor at Virginia Tech, I was never too keen on students missing classes. Frequently, I would challenge them and give them a special assignment to complete. In a brief conversation with this student, I challenged him to summarize my economic assessment in 25 words or less. Did this young man exceed my expectations? Yes. In summary, he indicated that the U.S. economy is like being on a balance beam, where one misstep could result in unfortunate circumstances. In general, the East and West Coasts, along with the southern parts of the United States, still feel like they are in a recession. Contrast this to the upper Midwest, where the comment would be, “What recession?” A global assessment would measure up likewise. The emerging BRIC nations, i.e. Brazil, Russia, India, and China, have economic growth of nine percent on average, with tremendous demand for food, fiber, and fuel, which the Midwest and row crop agricultural industries produce. The European nations, particularly the PIIGS, i.e., Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain, are struggling with debt. In 2011, it will be interesting to see if Germany and France will have an appetite to continue to assist these nations with their debt and spending issues. The Federal Reserve provided potential stimulus to the economy through QE2, a second round of quantitative easing. This was designed to devalue the dollar to encourage exports to grow the economy. Unfortunately, the Euro sector debt challenges trumped the Federal Reserve’s actions, which in turn strengthened the dollar. Another strategy of QE2 was to draw cash reserves off the sidelines to invest in equities and other assets to create the wealth effect, i.e., to encourage people to spend because asset values have increased. The five game changers for agricultural markets are continued growth in Asia and particularly China, ethanol, low interest rates, a weak dollar, and the weather. These aforementioned elements are very bullish for row crop, grains, and export driven agriculture, and bearish for the livestock and poultry industries. Unfortunately, these bullish times on the crop side are creating local and regional land value bubbles, very reminiscent of what happened in many regions of the southern and southwestern part of the U.S. several years ago. The one constant in business will be managing volatility in revenue, input costs, and interest rates. This will require a balanced risk management plan analogous to football strategy, including offense, defense and special teams. That is, develop plans to protect your revenues and take action when profitable (offense), have a diversified plan for purchasing inputs (defense), and protect yourself from possible interest rate increases (special teams), which is special to those borrowing money. Finally, the volatility of 2011 and beyond will create many opportunities, but more chances to fail as well. One strategy for those going down the balance beam of business is to stay away from the undisciplined pursuit of more, and HUT, i.e. hear, understand, and take action. z Dr. David Kohl David Kohl received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Agricultural Economics from Cornell University. For 25 years, Kohl was Professor of Agricultural Finance and Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia. Kohl has addressed the American Bankers Agricultural Conference for over 30 consecutive years, and has appeared before numerous state bankers’ schools and conferences throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the world. He has also been one of the top rated instructors at the LSU and Colorado Graduate Schools of Banking, and is Chancellor of Farm Credit University, which has trained over 700 lenders using an online and face-to-face educational approach. Kohl is currently President of AgriVisions, LLC, a knowledge-based consulting business providing cutting-edge programs to leading agricultural organizations worldwide. He is also business coach and part owner of Homestead Creamery, a value added dairy business in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The five game changers for agricultural markets are continued growth in Asia and particularly China, ethanol, low interest rates, a weak dollar, and the weather. AgGeorgia.15.winter 2011
Page 1 and 2: Winter 2011 Inside: The Ancient Spo
Page 3 and 4: Table of Contents A small flicker o
Page 5 and 6: Experts in Ag Lending. Meet our Cor
Page 7 and 8: including leashes, anklets, bells,
Page 9 and 10: A Better Breakfast Courtesy of Fami
Page 11 and 12: Dana Perkins Inducted into the Hall
Page 13: We know poultry. With AgGeorgia Far
Page 17 and 18: 150 acres 21 year old planted pine.
Page 19 and 20: Headline IRWIN COUNTY—325 Lax HWY
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Page 27 and 28: AgGeorgia.27.Autumn AgGeorgia.27.wi

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