March 25, 2026
www.gfb.org
Vol. 8 No. 6
GFB HOLDS SPRING COMMODITY MEETING TO DISCUSS AG ISSUES Despite heavy rain and the threat of tornadoes, 195 members of Georgia Farm Bureau’s Commodity Advisory Committees and representatives of Georgia ag organizations drove through turbulent weather to meet at the GFB office in Macon on March 16 to discuss issues their commodities are facing and to review the organization’s policy pertaining to their crops or livestock. GFB policy staff gave the committee members updates on ag policy being considered at the state and national level. GFB has 20 commodity committees – one for each of the major crops or livestock Georgia farmers produce, one for agritourism and direct marketing venues, and one for ag water issues. During a lunch program, committee members got to meet Kevin Dancy, vice president and regional executive for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Because the Federal Reserve was meeting on March 17 and 18 to discuss the current economic outlook and set interest rates, Dancy was prohibited from discussing Federal Reserve policy or what the Fed might do regarding interest rates. Instead, Dancy asked the farmers to share their thoughts on how rising input costs, particularly fertilizer and fuel costs, ag labor, tariffs and other factors are causing the economic problems they are experiencing. “I spend my time traveling and talking to farmers, CEOs, industries, I mean everybody, nonprofits, government, to try to get a real-time picture of what the economy is doing and where things are,” Dancy said. “We can look at data, and it will paint one picture, but then when you get out and start talking to people, you get some color to that picture, and it’s not necessarily reflective of what the data says. We know that everybody’s experience is different. When you talk about low, moderate, middle class, working families, the experience of the economy is not the same booming economy that you see with folks that are invested in the stock market.” The first question Dancy asked the group of Georgia farmers was, “If you saw interest rates cut, would you still borrow money?” GFB President Tom McCall gave this answer, “If you drop interest rates, then, yeah, we’re going to borrow money. Ninety-nine percent of farmers don't have a choice. You have to borrow money to put in a crop and buy a piece of machinery or sometimes fix what you have, but what the Fed needs to understand is the money they {farmers} save on cheaper interest rates will go back into