57 Georgia Counties with Drought and Ag Credit Conditions Improve
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**A total of 57 Georgia counties, about a third, are experiencing moderate or severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
www.gfb.org reports, Bryan, Chatham and Effingham counties had at least some portion of their area under the severe drought designation, including all of Chatham and most of Effingham.
Across the southern and east central portions of the state, 52 counties are under moderate drought.
www.gfb.org/media-and-publications/news.cms/2022/1267/a-third-of-georgia-counties-under-drought-conditions
**Agricultural credit conditions improved in the first quarter of 2022, and farm real estate values continued to increase alongside strength in the American farm economy.
Following a year of accelerating increases, the value of non-irrigated cropland across much of the country has soared through March of this year.
The sharp growth in land values persisted despite a slight increase in farm loan interest rates.
Farm loan repayment rates continued to increase, and credit conditions remained strong.
**The House Ag Committee voted to approve the Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act, and the North American
Meat Institute called it “redundant, wasteful, and costly.”
NAMI CEO Julianna Potts says, “The committee voted to approve the bill despite our opposition, along with the opposition from the country’s largest livestock producer organizations.”
She also says USDA and the Justice Department already have the authorities the bill would grant, making this expansion of government bureaucracy with its required staff and offices “duplicative.”
