Production Update: High Yields, Low Prices for South Georgia Farmers

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By Clint Thompson

Crop yields have been high this year at Lewis Taylor Farms in Tifton, Georgia. If only market prices could have matched the production experienced in such crops as peppers, cucumbers and squash.

Brim

“Prices are cheap. Mexico is sending product in here. It’s gotten prices depressed,” said Bill Brim, part owner of Lewis Taylor Farms.

“Jumbo peppers are close to $12 (per box) and taking $10. It should be $16 or $18. Cucumbers are cheap. Selects are $8. Squash is cheap. It’s been a bad season. Especially peppers have been a terrible price.”

Lewis Taylor Farms is one of the largest privately owned vegetable and greenhouse operations in the Southeast. It grows more than 6,500 acres of produce each year.

Brim credits the cooler weather conditions for his great crop this season.

“It certainly panned out to be a good crop. It’s cooler later. Everything grew slower. It didn’t get real hot real quick. When you get temperature ranges like that, cool at night and warms up to 70, 75 degrees during the day and don’t get any of these 90-to-100-degree days during the growing season, it makes a lot of difference,” Brim said. “If we could have just gotten a decent price out of it, we would have had a heck of a crop, still got a heck of a crop.”