Browse Agriculture Policy Stories

Georgia is consistently one of the top five states to use the H-2A visa program, employing workers for 60% of agricultural jobs. Last year, the U.S. Department of Labor passed legislation to raise the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR), which establishes the minimum wage for H-2A workers, by a sharp 14% for several states including Georgia. For University of Georgia Professor Cesar Escalante, this poses the question: How do you balance supporting the interests of farm businesses while fairly compensating the people doing the hard work in the field?

If you’ve ever driven down a rural road lined with fields of cotton plants festooned with fluffy bolls and wondered how much cotton is grown in your county, forget Google — the University of Georgia’s Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development has what you need. Each year experts in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences perform the Sisyphean task of compiling agricultural production data for every commodity produced in the state.

There is, arguably, no single individual who has brought more national attention to agriculture and the state of Georgia than Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States, who grew up in the tiny farming community of Archery, Georgia, about 3 miles outside of Plains.

University of Georgia Professor Cesar Escalante has been awarded the 2022 Ketchum Prize — the FINRA Investor Education Foundation’s (FINRA Foundation) highest honor — in recognition of his pioneering research and advocacy to advance financial inclusion and alleviate racial and gender bias in agricultural lending.

On June 9, Gopinath “Gopi” Munisamy, Distinguished Professor of Agricultural Marketing and interim head of the University of Georgia Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, shared the agricultural impact of trade issues with the Senate Subcommittee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, chaired by U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia.

On Jan. 19, the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Office of Research will launch a four-part virtual seminar series titled “Start, Sustain, Succeed!” covering topics in agriculture, food and sustainable entrepreneurship.

Twenty-five professionals representing agriculture, forestry and allied sectors graduated from the Advancing Georgia’s Leaders in Agriculture and Forestry Class of 2019-21 in November.

As climate issues capture governmental and public attention — from the effects of methane emissions to weather extremes — it is incumbent on the world to take action. Experts in UGA's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are focused on helping residents address climate challenges in ways that will benefit the environment and ensure both profitability and sustainability for industry.

In September, 14 members of the 2021 class of Advancing Georgia’s Leaders in Agriculture and Forestry (AGL) had the opportunity to hone their skills in advocacy and communication by attending a national agriculture policy institute in Washington, D.C., where they engaged with a variety of stakeholders in agriculture and forestry.

For more than 20 years, the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) has encouraged students to explore an important, yet often overlooked, side of Georgia’s leading industry. Since its creation in 1997, the Congressional Agricultural Fellowship has offered 123 students a firsthand look into the world of agricultural policy by placing them in legislative offices located in our nation’s capital. Each summer, a handful of CAES students move to Delta Hall in Washington, D.C., to represent the college and serve as agricultural liaisons in Georgia’s congressional offices.