The second program in the 2024 State of Community Series focused on the State of Agriculture and was held on Thursday, November 7th at the Lyons First Baptist Church. Georgia State Agriculture Commissioner, Tyler Harper was the keynote speaker and addressed the crowd on the current forecast of the ag economy and where he sees trends taking Georgia’s largest industry. He noted “One in seven jobs in Georgia are tied in someway to agriculture. In rural Georgia, one in three jobs is associated with the agriculture field. We are the number one state in the Union for agriculture products so it’s stability as an industry must be a priority for the business community as a whole.” The event ended with a local ag outlook from local farmer and industry champion, Chris Hopkins. He echoed Commissioner Harper’s remarks about the importance of agriculture and also highlighted the need for local farmers due to recent weather-related events that crippled many of this year’s crops for many of our small farmers.
The final event in this year’s State of Community Series will be State of Education on Thursday, December 5th. Tickets are now available on the Chamber’s website. We appreciate everyone who has made the State of Community Series, held by our Public Policy Council, a success for our community. The Presenting Sponsor for the series is Brown Companies and Gold Sponsors for this event were Georgia Farm Bureau, Lasseter Tractor Company, and the Vidalia Onion Committee.
