Athens, Ga. – Whether it’s changing policies or changing weather patterns, the University of Georgia’s team of agricultural economists provides valuable insights into the state’s largest industry at every annual Georgia Ag Forecast event.
Hosted by the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the 2016 annual seminar series will be held Jan. 21-29 in Carrollton, Cleveland, Bainbridge, Tifton, Alma and Macon. Registration is open at www.georgiaagforecast.com.
“The main objective of the Ag Forecast seminar series is to provide Georgia’s producers and agribusiness leaders with information on where we think the industry is headed in the upcoming year,” said Kent Wolfe, director of the UGA Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development. “It helps producers plan for the next year, but it’s also good for bankers and others in business involved in agriculture or who will be impacted by the farm economy.”
Nearly 1,000 producers, agribusiness people and community leaders attended their local seminars in 2015.
Economists from the Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development and from the UGA department of agricultural and applied economics will deliver the annual economic outlook, which will focus on Georgia’s major commodities and the way that global markets, weather patterns and historical trends will affect those commodities in 2016.
In addition to the outlook, Wolfe and fellow UGA agricultural economist Sharon P. Kane will give a briefing on the Georgia Agricultural Tax Exemption, often referred to as GATE, and how it is reflected in county sales tax revenue.
The dates and locations for the 2016 sessions are Jan. 21 at the Carroll County Ag Center in Carrolton; Jan. 22 at Unicoi State Park in Cleveland; Jan. 25 at the Cloud Livestock Facility in Bainbridge; Jan. 26 at the UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center in Tifton; Jan. 27 at the Blueberry Warehouse in Alma; and Jan. 23 at the Georgia Farm Bureau Building in Macon.
The Georgia Ag Forecast seminar series is made possible through the Georgia Farm Bureau Land Grant University Lecture Series Endowment and is supported by the Georgia Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Agribusiness Council.
For more information on the 2016 Georgia Ag Forecast, see www.georgiaagforecast.com, follow @UGA_CollegeofAg on Twitter or search for #agforecast on social media.