Ossoff pushes for agricultural disaster assistance to Ga. farmers
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations about the urgent need to Georgia agriculture after the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene. He pressed both parties on the urgency of ing agricultural disaster assistance for Georgia before the end of the year.
He told the committee, “The numbers are staggering, but this isn’t about numbers. It’s about families and rural communities, and without our help, the simple fact is that many of these family farms will fold, and they may fold soon. They’re staring at devastated farmland and orchards, deep in the red, and under immense stress. If they go under, our rural communities go under. The local tax base funding schools and infrastructure is destroyed. And the rural way of life in Georgia risks disappearing altogether,” Sen. Ossoff testified.
Sen. Ossoff continued, “We must refuse the temptation to delay or to get dragged into politics. We must swiftly disaster assistance by the end of the year. My constituents and Americans in every state hit by this terrible storm and hit by natural disasters for the last several years are counting on all of us.”
According to his office, In September, in the days after Hurricane Helene, Sen. Ossoff and Congressman Austin Scott (GA-08), alongside Georgia’s entire Congressional Delegation-- led a bipartisan, bicameral group of 34 lawmakers from Southeastern states urging Congressional Leadership to ensure disaster relief resources are made available to agricultural producers following the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene.
He spoke about several different farmers including poultry, cotton, timber, beef cattle, blueberries, pecans, peanuts, tobacco, vegetables, citrus, soybeans, nursery crops, and dairy, including the devastation faced by one of our Jeff Davis County Commissioners, Vann Wooten.
From producing 180,000 chickens every 11 to 12 weeks, Wooten’s chicken houses have now reduced to rubble. Senator Ossoff included Wooten’s story we covered right here on WTOC.
He referenced the following about Wooten in that testimony, “The Georgia Poultry Federation reports that 495 poultry houses took significant damage, including 295 that were completely lost. Vann Wooten, a county commissioner in Jeff Davis County, who’s raised chickens for 31 years, saw all 10 of his chicken houses destroyed, many with birds still inside. Without our help, he isn’t sure now whether he’ll be able to return to raising chickens.”
You can watch that entire interview with Vann Wooten and another poultry farmer, Dwain McClellan who lives in Pearson, Georgia- right here.
Senator Ossoff wrapped up that important testimony in front of the committee with the following: “If they go under, our rural communities go under. The local tax base funding schools and infrastructure is destroyed and the rural way of life in Georgia risks disappearing altogether. We know what we need to do, and the fact that my colleague, Senator Tillis, and I are here before you, a Democrat and a Republican, urging speed to achieve this essential goal, I hope, is testimony to the urgency of bipartisan action before the end of the year. We must refuse the temptation to delay or to get dragged into politics. We must swiftly disaster assistance by the end of the year. My constituents and Americans in every state hit by this terrible storm and hit by natural disasters for the last several years are counting on all of us.”
This is an issue we’re continuing to follow here on WTOC, stay with us for the latest information as resources and assistance are provided to these farmers.
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