Agriculture department teams up with Braves to encourage Georgians to buy local

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Agriculture is by far Georgia’s largest industry. It’s a $75 billion a year business, with one-in-seven Georgia jobs belonging to the agriculture sector. The state leads the nation in peanuts, pecans, forestry and more.

Now, agriculture in the Peach State is getting some hometown help from another big name in Georgia: the Atlanta Braves.

The Georgia Department of Agriculture has partnered with the club to promote their Georgia Grown initiative, encouraging people to buy locally sourced crops and items when they can. Oftentimes, products grown by partner farms and producers are labeled in stores and markets with the Georgia Grown emblem.

“It gives people an opportunity to recognize something when they go to a grocery store,” said Tyler Harper, Georgia’s Agriculture Commissioner. “We’re really excited about this opportunity to take Georgia Grown to the next level, to give more exposure to a program that Georgians need to know about.”

The partnership will include digital billboards at games and traditional signage around the stadium. The Department of Agriculture will also have kiosks and will be running radio ads and full-page ads in the team’s programs for the Georgia Grown initiative.

For people like Drew Echols, a fifth-generation farmer at Jaemor Farms, it’s great exposure.

“It just keeps on emphasizing and makes them remember in their mind that they’re supporting local farmers and in a lot of cases these local farms are the backbones of communities, especially rural communities,” said Echols.

As food supplies become increasingly tied to foreign dependence, Harper says it’s more important now than ever before to think and buy local.

“At the end of the day, this is a national security concern,” he said. “If we’re not producing our own food, our own fiber, our own shelter right here at home in our own borders, we’re less safe as a state, as a community, and as a nation.”

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