When the farm crisis of the ’80s forced Ralph Dixon to stop
farming, he lost much more than his land and his home. He lost
his identity.

"I was a fourth generation farmer and every generation
had been successful, except me," remembers Dixon. "When
I lost my farm, I lost not only my way of making a living, I lost
my history and my culture. I may not be farming now, but I’m
still
a farmer."

Farmers Facing Tough
Decisions

Because of Georgia’s current farm crisis, many farmers are
facing the same tough decisions Dixon faced more than a decade
ago.

"We’ve come to a point where we have to face reality.
There’s not a lot we can do about the weather and the commodity
prices, but we can help farmers deal with the situation,"
said Bill Lambert, associate dean for extension at the University
of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
(UGA CAES).

Preparing to Help

Lambert was one of a host of speakers at a workshop called
"Helping Georgia Farmers at Risk" Nov. 30 in Perry.
The workshop was designed to train the state’s county Extension
Service agents and community teams to help Georgia farmers handle
the effects of the farm crisis.

County agents attended the workshop with clergymen and farm
lenders from their counties. These teams are preparing to serve
as valuable resources for farmers facing the crisis in their
counties.

"Georgia farmers are coming off of two years of bad
weather
conditions and low commodity prices," said Lambert. "We
are looking at what we can do to help farmers deal with their
emotional and financial problems."

Gale Buchanan, dean and director of the UGA CAES, said the
current farm crisis will affect farmers and rural communities
first, but will eventually affect everyone in the state.
"There’s
a ripple affect when farming suffers," said Buchanan.
"Everyone
in Georgia will be affected."

Farm Bill, Drought, Prices to
Blame

Buchanan said the farm crisis is also the result of the 1996
Freedom to Farm Bill. "The bill was designed to remove
government
control from farming and since then, 262 Georgia farmers have
quit farming," said Buchanan. "Federal appropriations
are helping the remaining farmers hold on. But, in my opinion,
they are not the cure."

He said Georgia’s farmers need agricultural research to help
them succeed. "We at the university are always searching
for new alternative crops that can help Georgia farmers,"
said Buchanan. "The new carrot industry is just one
example."

The "Helping Georgia Farmers at Risk" workshop
included
financial training on family budgeting, evaluating financial
status,
debt management and federal farm aid. The county teams also
received
counseling training on stress management and depression.

Farmers Need Support from Family and
Friends

As a
former farmer, Dixon said he feels the most important thing
farmers
need during times of crisis is support from their friends and
family. "When you are sick, people come to visit," he
said. "But if you are going under financially, people stay
away. They don’t know what to say. I say, don’t stay
away."

Dixon said he never imagined he would fail at farming. "I
was part of the world’s oldest profession – agriculture,"
said Dixon. "After all, Adam and Eve were farmers."

The former farmer remembers feeling displaced and depressed
after losing his farm.

"We came out of our life’s work with $3,000 and an old
Chevrolet with a bad transmission," he said. "I can
tell you that seeing your name on a foreclosure notice in the
newspaper is a very humbling experience."

Today, Dixon is a Methodist minister and his wife is a bank
teller. "We paid everyone we owed and avoided bankruptcy,
but we owed good people," said Dixon. "We still live
in our hometown and I’m not ashamed to walk the streets of
Sylvania,
Georgia."

Dixon says his only regret is that he never sought impartial
financial advice. "There are a lot of situations like mine
happening all across Georgia today," he said. "I pray
that everyone survives this crisis, but some may not."