From Staff Reports

The Post-Searchlight

Agriculture is perennially the largest industry in Georgia but each year there are a slate of global market considerations and policy changes that impact that industry.

This year economists from the University of Georgia will be on hand in Decatur County to brief local agriculture and business leaders on the issues that will impact Georgia agriculture in 2017.

UGA’s Georgia Ag Forecast seminar series will be returning to the Decatur County Agricultural Center in Bainbridge on Jan. 24. Registration for the seminar is now open at georgiaagforecast.com.

Nearly 1,000 producers, agribusiness representatives and community leaders attended the seminars in 2016.

“The main objective of the Ag Forecast seminar series is to provide Georgia’s producers and agribusiness leaders with information on where we think the industry is headed in the upcoming year,” said Kent Wolfe, director of the UGA Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development. “It helps producers plan for the next year, but it’s also good for bankers and others who have businesses involved in agriculture or who will be impacted by the farm economy.”

Economists from the Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development and from the college’s Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics will deliver the economic outlook, which will focus on Georgia’s major commodities and the way that global markets, weather patterns and historical trends will affect those commodities.

In addition to the economic outlook for 2017, attendees will hear from Bob Redding of the Redding Firm in Washington, District of Columbia.

Redding will discuss major themes that may be addressed in the 2018 farm bill before moderating a discussion on the bill.

Ag Forecast seminar series is made possible through the Georgia Farm Bureau Land-Grant University Lecture Series Endowment and is also supported by the Georgia Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Agribusiness Council.

For more information on the 2017 Georgia Ag Forecast series, visit georgiaagforecast.com, follow @UGA_CollegeofAg on Twitter or search for #agforecast on social media.

In addition to the Georgia Ag Forecast in Bainbridge, seminars will also be held across the state.

Jan. 18 at the Georgia Farm Bureau building in Macon.

Jan. 19 at the Cobb County Civic Center in Marietta.

Jan. 20 at the Carroll County Agriculture Center in Carrollton.

Jan. 23 at the UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center in Tifton.

Jan. 24 at the Decatur County Agricultural Center in Bainbridge.

Jan. 27 at the UGA Center for Continuing Education in Athens.