- Assessments from the University of Georgia estimate the economic impact of Hurricane Helene on agriculture - Georgia's #1 industry - at $6.46 billion.
- UGA estimates a 75% crop loss in the area or more than 36 million pounds of pecans.
- Watch the video to see how a South Georgia food business is still flourishing despite that.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT
For a food distribution company, Great American Cobbler is young, starting their business in South Georgia just four years ago.
"Russ Goodman and Johnny Crumble, which is 2 of the owners, had they got a blueberry farm and they had a lot of waste on the blueberries that wouldn't go in the Fresh Market, so they decided to come up with something they could use."
General manager Steve Jordan says you've probably had them on your dinner table; what started as a homemade cobbler operation has turned into a product featured in over 6,000 stores across the region.
Growth which helps our community.
"You know, the, the people we employ here are from this area, it's a low-income area and you know, we try to take care of the employees and it's just important to try to purchase from small business."
Jordan says he feels fortunate that operations could still continue as normal.
Many others weren't so lucky; we're now learning that farmers here took a direct loss of $3.2 billion.
Farms such as Shiloh Pecan Farm in neighboring Ray City, where President Joe Biden visited to speak with small farmers who were struggling.
As he works directly with farmers and suppliers, Jordan knows how important agriculture is to our everyday lives, keeping us fed.
"We wouldn't be able to survive without American farming, you know, and the food that they provide and the, you know, the cotton for the clothes you wear."
For perspective on just how important farming is, agriculture contributes $83 billion to our economy. In Valdosta, I'm Malia Thomas, reporting for ABC27.
