Congressman, state agriculture chief warn about fed cuts

A congressman from southwest Georgia and the state agriculture commissioner joined forces Wednesday to warn about “devastating effects” that cutting $5 billion in federal agriculture spending could have in Georgia.

The proposed cuts are part of a Republican budget proposal that the U.S. House passed Saturday.

“It’s necessary to cut the budget, but we want to keep the things that work well and are essential to Georgia agriculture,” said U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop of Albany.

Bishop, a Democrat, and Republican Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black met Wednesday morning to discuss ways to protect the state’s largest industry.

Black said the pair had prioritized certain issues, such as research funding at the University of Georgia and maintaining payments to growers when commodity prices drop.

Still, he acknowledged that cuts are coming and will affect the state’s $65 billion agriculture industry.

“The paradigm that we're currently in in regards to spending more than we're bringing in is a paradigm that must shift,” Black said.

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