Wilkinson Works to Keep Poultry Industry Thriving

From WLHR Radio, Lavonia

State Senator John Wilkinson says he is working to ensure Georgia’s poultry industry has the resources it needs to continue to be one of the biggest industries in the State.

The poultry industry in Georgia rakes in some $32-billion a year in revenue.

Speaking last week at the Policies and Pastries breakfast in Carnesville Wilkinson, who chairs the State Senate Agriculture Committee, said he is making sure his district and the poultry industry has a voice when budget time comes around.

“There are more poultry houses in Franklin County than there are in the State of Georgia,” he said. “I got a seat on the Appropriations Committee because I think there’s some value in having a seat at the table when you’re trying to divide up the State’s budget.”

This past year, fears were raised among Georgia poultry farmers when the avian influenza virus wiped out millions of chickens and turkeys on poultry farms in the upper Midwest.

The virus, which is spread by migrating wild waterfowl, threatened local producers this past winter.

Wilkinson said he worked to make sure there was money to take steps to reduce the risk in Georgia of the deadly disease.

“I think one of the reasons that we’ve made it this far and handle that challege successfully because as part of the appropriations process we have appropriated millions of dollars for the poultry testing lab in Hall County,” he said. “It’s a world class facility where they can stay on top of the issues and we can beat these things and not have the challenge they had in Iowa where they had compost piles six feet tall and seven miles long with dead chickens.”

Wilkinson said the State has also invested millions in the vet diagnostic labs at the University of Georgia Veterinary School and for the diagnostic lab in Tifton, Georgia.