MOULTRIE- (10-17-2018) This year’s 41st annual Sunbelt Agricultural Expo kicked off yesterday, and with it came a surprise visit from Vice President Mike Pence, introduced by Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. On his way to tour the storm damage from Hurricane Michael, Pence heard about the Expo and decided to attend. During the Southeast Farmer of the Year Awards luncheon, Pence said, “We will stay with you until we succeed,” referring to the hard-hit Georgia ag industry.
Pence poured on the sugar when talking about the resilience, character and faith of Southwest Georgia farmers. “You are an inspiration to the American people,” he said. “Damage from the hurricane goes far beyond loss to businesses and homes. It has had a drastic impact on Sunbelt agriculture and the American people need to know it.”
The latest estimates of hurricane damage to Georgia ag is at a heavy $2 billion, with cotton, peanuts and pecans – and poultry – suffering as much as 90 percent losses in some areas.
The Expo still draws a crowd, with thousands flooding through the gates all day yesterday and today. Tomorrow the event will close. There are livestock exhibitions, with a milk cow with udders waiting for you to tug. There are also farmers demonstrating (on a big plastic cow) to willing guests how to wrestle a calve from it’s mother’s womb – complete with long plastic shoulder-reaching gloves and grease, and straps for leverage.
The Expo’s unique site has a100-acre exhibit area adjoining a 600-acre working research farm. In the exhibit area, which includes both outdoor and indoor exhibits visitors will find every imaginable product or service a farm could ever need. In addition to the static exhibits visitors can attend educational, entertaining seminars and demonstrations offered in a variety of specialized areas. Visitors can ride take a tram from the exhibit area to the fields where cotton, peanuts, corn, soybeans, turf grass and hay are being harvested. These harvesting demos as well as tillage demonstrations, equipment driving ranges, irrigation technology, precision ag demos and the Toyota Behind The Wheel Adventure all provide opportunities to see and compare a wide range of equipment in an actual working setting. Company representatives and specialists are in the fields to answer visitor questions.
So many vendors, so little time. Some brought buggies (along with strollers for the kids) to haul their loot from the countless booths handing out free swag.
