COFFEE COUNTY, Ga. (WALB) - South Georgia is home to many hard-working men and women who provide provide food, fiber and shelter for households across the nation. This year, some of these farmers have had to operate at a deficit because they are still waiting for $20 billion out of $30 billion dollars approved for federal disaster relief for years 2023 and 2024.

Now, as a new season of storms approaches, WALB visited a farm in Coffee County to find out what farmers need to make it through this time.

A pond in Coffee County sits on land that has been in Jerry McKinnon’s family for over a century.

“Whichever one of my kids gets it, I have tried to explain to them that it should never be sold for any amount of money. There used to be a little house, and that’s where my grandmother and grandpa lived at. They had cattle, tobacco, peanuts, and I think they grew cotton too, even back in the 50s, in the 60s,” said McKinnon.

Now, as a peanut, corn, cotton and cattle farmer himself, McKinnon mentors his own grandson, who wants to follow in his life’s path. But due to volatile weather and market prices, that may not be possible.

McKinnon remembers when Hurricane Helene came roaring through South Georgia in September of 2024.

He reflected on the storm, saying, “It’s been a rough ride. The weather is always the main thing for a farmer. At Helene, we had just started picking peanuts. We had peanuts on top of the dirt. Cotton was a tee-total disaster, cause most of it was on the dirt. It’s just gone. All you can do is look at it.”

Since, he has had to sell 500 brood cows because he was unable to keep them inside damaged fences.

Georgia Farm Bureau reports Georgia farmers lost over $6 billion to Helene damage, twice that of Hurricane Michael in 2018. Hurricane Helene came after other losses to Tropical Storm Debby in August of 2024 and Hurricane Idalia in August of 2023.

Today, Brooke Appleton with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reassures the agriculture community that more help is on the way through their many programs.

“The Supplemental Disaster Relief program will come next. We’re targeting about July 7th for that, so it kind of feels like every month we’re gonna have another kind of opportunity for folks to to have access to these funds,” Appleton said.

But until these funds get rolled out and an updated federal Farm Bill is passed later this year, many South Georgia framers may have to continue operating at a loss.

This is something McKinnon doesn’t want for his grandson.

“Cotton is 65 to 66 cents right now, and it’s going to take $0.95 at least to grow it. We’re gonna have to have some help out of Washington for a Farm Bill for me to even want him to pursue agriculture because there are other things in life now that a young man could do. It’s costing the farmer money because if he’s borrowing money, he’s got to pay interest on that money while waiting on what Congress has set out to do,” said McKinnon.

The last farm bill was passed in 2018, and it was set to expire in September of 2023 before it was extended.

The 2018 farm bill could be extended once more, but it will expire this year either way. If extended again, it will expire December 31, 2025. If not, the expiration will hit Sept. 30, 2025.

So far, some Georgia farmers have already received over $20 million from the USDA, and Governor Brian Kemp signed legislation last month to provide over $280 million to farmers and foresters through 2029, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

WALB would like to give a special thanks to the Georgia Cotton Commission, Georgia Peanut Commission, and Georgia Farm Bureau for their contributions to this story.

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