Collins, Black at Farm City Week Banquet

Monday, the Currahee Campus of North Georgia Technical College hosted the annual Toccoa-Stephens County Farm City Week Banquet where leaders from the state and federal level discussed agriculture and other issues.  This year's attendees included 9th District U.S. Representative Doug Collins and Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black.  Collins talked about the budget battles and the government shutdown in Washington.  "The problems overall is we have lost sight of a good Northeast Georgia, biblical word called stewardship," said Collins.  "We have lost track of what it means to take care of what we have got.  We have lost track of what it means to simply say "Here is what we have been given and here is what we give to the next generation'."  State Agriculture Commissioner Black talked about how important it is for the agriculture industry to work on reaching out to the modern consumer.  "We have got to continue our great traditions of agriculture that are so very important, but we have to learn another language if we are going to connect with the 21st century consumer," said Black.  "We have to speak the language of food."
Also during the banquet, the Stephens County Farm Bureau awarded several honors.  At the top of the list was the induction of the late Willie Sheriff into the Stephens County Farm Bureau Hall of Fame.  50th District State Senator John Wilkinson called Sheriff a man of vision, integrity, and wisdom, as well as a steward of the land.  Sheriff's son, Leonard Sheriff, was named the 2013 Stephens County Cattleman of the Year.  Other awards from the banquet went to James Whiten as this year's Friend of Agriculture and the Steve Cothran family as this year's Farm Family of the Year.