Agriculture

Northeast Georgia is home to a thriving agriculture industry and hardworking farmers, ranchers, growers, and processors who contribute to America’s economy and our communities. In our corner of the state, more than 10,000 farm operators grow products from peaches to cattle, chicken to strawberries, and many need relief from burdensome federal regulations.

Georgia remains the country’s number one broiler producer, while the Ninth District leads the state in both poultry and cattle production. Keeping our agricultural industry competitive means reining in government overreach. For this reason, I advocated tirelessly to overturn the Waters of the United States Rule, which amounts to a bureaucratic land-grab that could devastate farmers and ranchers. I’ve also worked on legislation to reform the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In recent years, the ESA has had little success in strengthening populations of certain species, but federal authorities have frequently employed the law to limit land use and impose new burdens on farmers and ranchers.

The Georgia delegation worked together to bring the country’s premiere poultry lab to the University of Georgia. Additionally, I have advocated to the Department of Agriculture to review the use of increased line speeds in poultry processing facilities, to help the U.S. remain competitive in a global market in which some countries have outpaced our production speeds.