A state legislative committee studying the future of Georgia’s family farms will bring its work to Northwest Georgia, with its second meeting scheduled to be held in Rome.

The Joint Study Committee on Generational Sustainability of Family Farms was created by the Georgia General Assembly earlier this year through House Resolution 1416. The committee is co-chaired by State Senator Russ Goodman and State Representative Robert Dickey, who chair the Senate and House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs committees.

The committee is examining the challenges facing family farms as they are passed from one generation to another — an issue with particular relevance across rural Northwest Georgia, including Chattooga County, where agriculture and family-owned farms remain an important part of the local economy.

The committee held its first meeting in Perry on August 20. That meeting included presentations on the financial outlook for family farms, forestry markets, changes to federal farm programs and equipment service and diagnostic issues affecting farmers. Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper was also among those addressing the committee.

The upcoming meeting in Rome will give lawmakers an opportunity to hear more about issues affecting farmers in the northern part of the state.

Among the broader questions facing Georgia agriculture are how families can afford to transfer farms to younger generations, whether younger farmers have sufficient access to land and capital, the rising costs of equipment and agricultural inputs, and what state policies could help keep productive farmland in agricultural use.

The study committee includes lawmakers from both the Georgia House and Senate and is expected to use information gathered during its meetings to consider possible recommendations for the General Assembly.

For Chattooga County and other agricultural counties across Northwest Georgia, the study could ultimately be important because decisions made at the state level involving taxes, financing, agricultural policy and farmland preservation can directly affect whether family farming operations remain viable for another generation.