Soaring production costs hit Georgia growers

… UGA economists predict it will cost Georgia farmers 14 percent more to grow cotton this year than last and 49 percent more to grow corn. The production costs for growing peanuts are up 21 percent from 2007, while the production costs for soybeans are up 49 percent. Since 2002, costs are up between 40 and 75 percent for these same crops.

… Glenn Waller, a row crop and cattle farmer in Washington County, has recorded the prices he has paid for production supplies and the income he has made from his crops since 1965. In 1998, he joined forces with Washington County Extension Agent Sidney Law to compile this data to chart how production costs, farm income and food costs have risen through the years.