by Dave Williams | Jul 30, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Single-family residential subdivisions built on large lots are gobbling up Georgia’s farmland at an alarming rate, the head of a nonprofit land preservation group said Tuesday.
The Peach State lost about 2.6 million acres of farmland and 2 million acres of forest between 1974 and 2016, Katherine Moore, president of the Georgia Conservancy, told members of a state Senate study committee meeting on the campus of Georgia Southern University in Statesboro. Most of that acreage has been turned into “low-intensity” residential properties, single-family homes scattered on large lots across former farmland, she said.
“Our land is a limited resource,” Moore said. “We have to think how to grow sustainably.”
Moore’s testimony came during the first meeting of the Senate Study Committee on Preservation of Georgia’s Farmlands, which the Senate formed this year to look for ways to slow the loss of farmland by helping farmers make a decent living pursuing the state’s No.-1 industry.
“We’ve got to find ways to ensure our farmers are successful,” Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tyler Harper said. “We do that by making farm families successful.”
Moore said Georgia’s current population of 11 million is expected to increase to 13.5 million by 2050.
Current growth has been uneven across the state, she said, with some areas where population growth has exceeded the increase in developed land and others where the loss of farmland has outstripped the increase in population.
The rapid growth of “solar farms,” farmland dedicated to vast fields of solar panels, has been a factor in the loss of agricultural land, eating up 30,000 acres by 2021, Moore said. But that’s far less than the impact construction of low-density residential subdivisions has had on available agricultural acreage, she said.
Moore said local governments should focus on land-use decisions that curb the spread of low-intensity residential development.
Others suggested more needs to be done to help financially struggling Georgia farmers resist the temptation to sell off their farms to developers.
Harper cited steps the state already has taken to incentivize farmers to stay on the land. The Georgia Farmland Conservation Act the General Assembly passed last year established a $2 million state fund to pay farmers willing to guarantee preserving their properties as farmland.
This year, the legislature passed a bill prohibiting foreign adversaries or their agents from acquiring Georgia farmland.
“These are the types of things that can help us move the ball in the right direction,” Harper said.
Sen. Russ Goodman, R-Cogdell, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee and a farmer by trade, said farmers also face other challenges much broader in scope, including corporate consolidation of farms, overregulation, and unfair trade practices by foreign competitors.
Harper added inflated farm input costs and declining commodity prices to the list of challenges making it difficult for farmers to earn a profit.
“We’re asked to do more with less every day,” he said. “At some point, more with less doesn’t work anymore.”
Sen. Billy Hickman, R-Statesboro, the study committee’s chairman, said the panel will hold additional hearings this summer and fall across the state before meeting at the Georgia Capitol in November to finalize recommendations. The committee is due to issue a report by Dec. 1.
by Dave Williams | Jul 30, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Port of Brunswick had a better year than the Port of Savannah, the Georgia Ports Authority reported Tuesday.
Brunswick handled a record 876,000 units of Roll-on/Roll-off cargo, including autos and heavy machinery, during fiscal 2024, which ended June 30. That represented a 21% increase over the previous fiscal year.
On the other hand, containerized-cargo volume at the Port of Savannah was down 2.3% in fiscal 2024. Savannah handled 5.25 million twenty-foot equivalent container units, a decrease of 123,000 compared to fiscal 2023.
Ports Authority officials attributed growth at the Port of Brunswick to increasing demand from American consumers, growing import-export trade with both Europe and Asia, new car manufacturers choosing Brunswick, and the diversion of cargo to Brunswick after the collapse of a bridge leading into the harbor at Baltimore.
Authority president and CEO Griff Lynch said he remains optimistic despite the downturn in containerized cargo traffic at Savannah. With that in mind, the authority is continuing to expand its operations, recently completing construction of the new Garden City Terminal West facility.
“At Georgia Ports, our philosophy is to continue investing for the future, even during slow periods, so that we are ready for the next up cycle,” authority board Chairman Kent Fountain said Tuesday. “That’s how we have built one of the most reliable operations in global logistics.”
The Port of Brunswick also is expanding. The ports authority brought online 120 acres of Ro/Ro storage space at Colonel’s Island last year, with another 300 acres available for expansion. Brunswick also has added 640,000 square feet of warehousing and processing space.
by Dave Williams | Jul 30, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The board chairman of the Georgia Department of Corrections was among those killed in a plane crash in Wyoming late last week.
Larry Haynie, his wife Melissa, and three members of an Atlanta family gospel group died when a single-engine turboprop piloted by Haynie crashed near Recluse, a town in northeastern Wyoming.
The plane experienced an “autopilot issue,” according to initial findings reported by a spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board.
In a statement, Gov. Brian Kemp praised Haynie for a career of “valued service” in public safety.
“Larry’s impact on our state will not be forgotten,” Kemp wrote. “We will continue to hold his memory and that enduring commitment to his fellow Georgians in our hearts and memories.”
Three members of the family gospel group The Nelons also died in the crash. Kelly Nelon Clark, her husband, Jason Clark, and their daughter Amber Nelon Kistler were headed to the Gaither Homecoming Cruise to Alaska at the time of the crash.
Amber’s husband, Nathan Kistler, and Melodi Hodges, an assistant, were also killed.
Kelly and Jason’s other daughter, Autumn Nelon Streetman, who was also a member of the group, was not on the plane.
The 19-member Georgia Board of Corrections postponed its schedule Aug. 1 meeting until Aug. 8.
by Dave Williams | Jul 29, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Georgia Secretary of State’s office has launched a new web portal to allow voters to cancel their registration online.
The site – cancelmyregistration.sos.ga.gov – lets voters who are moving or opting out of voter registration to notify their county registrar that they want their registration canceled.
“This is a convenient tool for any voter who wants to secure their voter registration by canceling their old one when they move out of state,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Monday. “It will also help keep Georgia’s voter registration database up to date without having to rely on postcards being sent and returned by an increasingly inefficient postal system.”
Once voters who wish to cancel their registration access the site, they will be asked to provide identifying information such as a drivers license or Social Security number. County voter registration officials will receive a notification through the GARViS system to remove the voter from the rolls.
Raffensperger said he will provide a secure link to closing attorneys and realtors in Georgia so that canceling an out-of-date voter registration will be part of the moving process.
“We do voter list maintenance in Georgia every day,” he said. “This is one more method that’s convenient for voters and efficient for election officials.”
by Dave Williams | Jul 26, 2024 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Students showed continued improvement in the latest Georgia Milestones tests that cratered during the pandemic, the state Department of Education (DOE) reported Friday.
The 2023-24 results showed scores increased or held steady in 10 of 13 assessments in English/language arts (ELA), science, and social studies. Because math assessments were updated to align with the new K-12 mathematics standards first implemented during the school year just ended, Milestones math scores won’t be released until this fall.
“I am proud of Georgia’s students and educators for their continued hard work, which has led to consistent improvements in student performance over the last several years,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said. “There is certainly still work to be done, but I am confident we are on the right path.”
The strongest gains came among fifth graders, who gained six points in proficiency in English/language arts compared to the previous school year and gained two points in proficiency in science. Sixth and eighth graders each gained three points on the ELA assessment.
On the down side, English/language arts proficiency declined by one point among Georgia third graders.
Allison Timberlake, the DOE’s deputy superintendent for assessment and accountability, attributed the decline to lingering effects of the pandemic, when many schools were closed and students were forced to rely on online instruction.
“Those third graders were in kindergarten during the 2020-21 school year,” Timberlake said. “That probably had a role to play in initially developing those early-learning skills.”
This year’s decline in reading scores among third graders is part of a larger trend. According to 2022 assessment data presented to the Georgia Council on Literacy last fall, 56% of third-grade students were not prepared to move to the next grade.
The General Assembly responded last year by passing the Georgia Early Literacy Act, which required the state Board of Education to provide reading screeners and training in literacy instruction to teachers in kindergarten through third grade.
The DOE is placing full-time literacy coaches in elementary schools throughout the state, focusing on the lowest-performing 5% of schools.
State Sen. Billy Hickman, R-Statesboro, a leading advocate for improving literacy in Georgia, said the state has invested $6 million to hire literacy coaches for school districts that can’t afford the cost on their own. The new program – Let’s READ, Georgia! – was launched on Thursday during a ceremony in Warner Robins.
“The bigger school districts are doing a good job,” Hickman said. “(But) rural systems don’t have the people or the financial resources to implement this. This is going to be a great thing.”
Teachers are currently training to implement new ELA standards aligned to the science of reading and structured literacy, which emphasize the necessity of systematic instruction on phonics as well as comprehension and vocabulary. The new standards will take effect during the 2025-26 school year.
Dana Rickman, president of the nonprofit Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, said she’s encouraged by this year’s Milestones test results.
“The upward trend, particularly on the Grades 5 and 6 ELA assessments, is promising,” Rickman said. “At the same time, as we dig deeper into the results by district and schools, we see opportunities for growth and improvement. We know that schools still are struggling with the unique challenges that emerged during the pandemic.”
Statewide results as well as district and individual school results are available on the Department of Education website.
