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Request a DemoGeorgia’s Vidalia Onion Committee interim executive director on the $150M industry & her favorite recipe
Georgia takes pride in its Vidalia onions, a flavorful and cherished crop that has become synonymous with the region. A beloved culinary treasure, the Vidalia onion captivates the hearts of foodies, chefs and Georgians alike.
As a cornerstone of Georgia's economy, this onion varietal flourishes across roughly 12,000 dedicated acres. Each year, growers diligently pack and ship a whopping 200 million pounds of Vidalias, injecting over $150 million in farm gate value (the market value minus the selling costs) into the state's financial landscape.
This year, get ready to savor the sweetness as the eagerly-awaited pack date rolls around on April 17. Determined by the Georgia Department of Agriculture in collaboration with the Vidalia Onion Committee, this date marks the official kickoff for packing and shipping Vidalias to retailers.
At the heart of this thriving, intriguing industry is the Vidalia Onion Committee, a membership organization that ensures the promotion, research, and high standards of Vidalia onions are maintained. One of the key players in this endeavor is Chelsea Blaxton Page, the interim executive director of the committee.
Vidalia onions are grown in a designated region in Georgia, which encompasses 13 full counties and parts of seven others. It is not possible for a grower from Texas or any other state outside of the designated region in Georgia to label their sweet onions as "Vidalia" onions, even if they were to become members of the committee.
State Affairs had the opportunity to sit down with Blaxton Page — who has been with the committee for six years, mainly working on “the compliance side of things” — to discuss her background, the crucial role the committee plays in supporting and regulating the industry and the future prospects of Vidalia onions in Georgia.
The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Q. So, for an onion to be labeled a Vidalia onion, they need to pay the Vidalia Onion Committee?
A. For Vidalia onion growers to label their onions Vidalia onions, they have to pay into our committee. … For every 40 pounds that the grower sells, they have to pay into the committee 13 cents. … So I just make sure they're turning in the correct amount of money. That funds our entire program. First, they have to register with the State of Georgia, the Georgia Department of Agriculture. Once they've registered, they pass that information along to us. And that's how we know there's a new grower.
We have a research center with the University of Georgia. And when these seed companies come up with these new varieties, they have to be studied at our research center for three consecutive years before the growers can grow that type of seed. So we have a list. Every year, there are some added, there are some taken off. And for it [the onion] to be qualified as a variety, it has to be an approved variety. You can't just go to Lowe's and buy sweet onion and call it a Vidalia onion. It has to be registered with the State of Georgia and it has to be an approved variety.
Q. What do you guys do with the money you get? Where does it go? Does the government provide any funds?
A. The U.S. Department of Agriculture oversees our programs. [However,] we don't [receive funding from the USDA] unless it's through a grant, like a specialty crop block grant. Most of the things we do are funded through the assessments that are collected. [From the money we get] we fund the marketing. Every year, that's $300-and-some-thousand dollars. We fund the research, which is normally around $250-ish [thousand.]
Q. How does the Vidalia onion industry impact Georgia's economy as a whole? Is there any competition with Georgia’s Vidalia onion industry, like from Texas, which also grows sweet onions?
A. Farm gate value, the last time I looked, it was $150 million. So it brings a lot of money into our state. [Texas’s growing] season is not the same time as ours. We don't really see ourselves in competition with anyone. We just focus on [ourselves.]
Q. The “Vidalia” name is copyrighted and the Vidalia Onion Committee is quite strict in enforcing it. Can you elaborate on the importance of the name and the measures taken to protect its integrity?
A. Actually, the State of Georgia owns the name “Vidalia” onion. We obviously monitor it, but we do that so there can't be [knockoff] onions grown in California. And then they take from our popularity and try to use their onion as a Vidalia onion and label it as that, which is illegal. There are fines that come along with that. So if someone calls in and says there's a grocery store in California, and says Vidalia onions are grown in California, that complaint comes to me. And then I forward that on to the State of Georgia.
Q. Can you share your favorite Vidalia onion recipe with us?
A. Oh, gosh, there's so many. I love a good Vidalia onion ring. At the first of the spring, everybody's outside grilling burgers, hot dogs, onion rings, or a Vidalia onion dip. There's plenty.
Q. Can you tell us about any Vidalia onion-related events or festivals in Georgia that help to promote the industry and engage with the community?
A. So every year, the city of Vidalia puts on the Vidalia Onion Festival, and this year it's actually going to be [April 20-23]. We always have an onion-eating contest, obviously. We have a recipe contest. This year, there's going to be three nights of concerts. We'll have a street dance. We have arts and crafts. There's a number of fun things to do during that time. … We have visitors from all over the country. We had over 30,000 visitors last year. That's not including the people that are from our area. That's just from other cities.
Q. How do you envision the future of the Vidalia onion industry in the next 5 to 10 years?
A. I don't see it changing a whole lot. I mean, other than the next generation, really. Several [farmers] are multigenerational farmers. We do have a few that are first-generation farmers and it's always neat to see because it is a tough industry. If you can last a few years, you've made it in but the majority of the growers are generational growers. Vidalia onions are pretty sustainable.
The initial seed is planted by a tracker. From there on, everything's done by hand. So after the initial seed is planted, the plant grows, and then we transplant those plants to another field. Then when it's time to harvest those onions, the digger goes under the roots and pulls them up. We have H-2A workers who come in and cut the tops and bottom. Then [the onions] go into the packing facility and then into the box.
Rohan Movva is State Affairs’ intern writer in Georgia. A lifelong native of the Peach State, he’s proudly rooted in Georgia’s rich culture and charm.
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House speaker Jon Burns hires new communications director
House speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, announced today that he has hired a new communications director. Kayla Roberson, who has served as press secretary at the Georgia Chamber for the past year or so, will now oversee all external communications, media relations and strategic messaging for Burns.
“I’m excited to welcome Kayla to our team,” Burns said in a statement. “Kayla has an excellent background, deep skill set and strong work ethic, and we’re excited to have her on board to continue getting our message out and sharing the House’s priorities ahead of and into the next session.”
A double major in political science and journalism at the University of Georgia, where she graduated in 2022, Roberson interned for U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Republican in north Georgia’s 9th Congressional District, and worked as a consultant for GOP political candidates before joining the Georgia Chamber.
“I’m beyond grateful for the opportunity to work under the leadership of speaker Burns,” Roberson told State Affairs. “Whether it’s improving education opportunities, putting money back in the pockets of hardworking Georgians, creating jobs or supporting our rural communities, speaker Burns always prioritizes doing what is best, and what is right, for Georgia.”
Political strategist Stephen Lawson, who has held the top communications role for the speaker since last December, announced he’s joining Dentons, where starting today he’ll lead the global law firm’s public affairs efforts.
Have questions or comments? Contact Jill Jordan Sieder on X @journalistajill or at [email protected].
Global bird flu disrupts Georgia exports, costing chicken producers millions
ATLANTA — A global bird flu that has rapidly spread from birds to dairy cows, milk supplies and humans has cost untold millions of dollars in lost export business in Georgia, the nation’s leading poultry producer, officials with the state Department of Agriculture and poultry industry said.
Georgia has had only three reported cases of H5N1 avian influenza since it reemerged in 2022. The last of those cases was resolved in November 2023 but ramifications of those outbreaks continue to have a big effect on the state’s ability to export chicken and chicken parts, such as chicken feet, to different countries, including China, one of Georgia’s biggest export markets for chicken feet.
In 2022, frozen chicken feet, for example, accounted for more than 85% of all U.S. poultry exported to China, according to Farm Progress, publisher of 22 farming and ranching magazines.
The $30 billion poultry industry is Georgia’s largest segment in its No. 1 industry — agriculture.
China has also placed a ban on the import of chicken products from 41 other American states. The ban on Georgia products went into effect Nov. 21, 2023. Efforts to reach the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. were unsuccessful.
Georgia Poultry Federation President Mike Giles estimates the state’s loss at “well into the millions of dollars.”
“It’s a significant amount in a significant export market for us,” he said. “Poultry paws [feet] immediately lose value because of the loss of demand.”
The ban has forced Georgia poultry producers to find alternative markets for their products that would normally be headed to China.
“Some are sold domestically, some are frozen and stored, hopefully to find markets later on, and some go to other countries,” Giles said.
This isn’t the first time China has banned U.S.-produced poultry products due to a bird flu outbreak. The country instituted a ban in January 2015 which lasted until November 2019 — even though U.S. poultry products were deemed free of the disease by August 2017.
After that ban was lifted, China’s appetite for American-produced chicken products became voracious.
In 2022, U.S. producers shipped nearly $6 billion in poultry meat and related products (excluding eggs) to over 130 countries. China has emerged as the second largest destination for U.S. poultry exports, increasing from $10 million in 2019 to a record $1.1 billion in 2022, according to Southern Ag Today.
Chicken paws, for instance, are eaten in many Asian countries, including the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Korea.They can also be found on Chinese dim sum menus throughout the U.S. and are also popular in Jamaica, Trinidad, Russia and Ukraine in everything from soups and curries to fried snacks.
Three Georgia counties have reported H5N1 outbreaks since 2022. The most recent case was late last year. Henry, Sumter and Toombs counties each reported one case of H5N1 bird flu. Those outbreaks are resolved, poultry and state agriculture officials say.
“When HPAI cases are found in any state, that state is given a designation that could lead to foreign countries halting trade on poultry products from that state,” Georgia Department of Agriculture spokesman Matthew Agvent told State Affairs.
Not since 2016 has the United States experienced such a fast-moving case of the H5N1 avian influenza. In the last two months, the virus has spread in parts of the United States from birds to dairy cows, some milk supplies and humans. Two people — a Texas dairy worker and a prison inmate in Colorado who was killing infected birds at a poultry farm — are reported to have caught the virus, according to news reports. The outbreak is the largest in recent history, impacting both domestic poultry and livestock as well as wild birds and some mammal species.
State officials are continuing to monitor the national outbreak and its impact on Georgia.
Georgia’s poultry & egg industry: At A Glance
Annual economic impact: $30.2 billion
Percentage of the Agriculture industry: 58% *
Jobs: 87,900
Counties involved in poultry & egg production: 3 out of 4
National ranking in chicken broiler production: No. 1
Daily production of table eggs: 7.8 million
Daily production of hatching eggs: 6.5 million
Pounds of chicken produced daily: 30.2 million
Pounds of chicken produced annually: 8 billion
Number of chicken broilers processed each day: 5 million
Counties involved in poultry & egg production: 3 out of 4
Source: Georgia Poultry Federation; The Center for Agribusiness & Economic Development, University of Georgia, Ag Snapshots 2024; Georgia Poultry Federation.
Have questions? Contact Tammy Joyner on X @lvjoyner or at [email protected].
Is it safe to eat chicken and eggs and drink milk? Answers to your most pressing questions about the latest bird flu outbreak
A two-year-old strain of bird flu has heightened concerns in Georgia and the rest of the country after the virus recently spread to dairy cows. Here’s what you need to know about the virus and its impact on Georgia and the rest of the country. What are the symptoms of this flu in humans? Eye …
Kemp signs bills on education, health care, taxes
Gov. Brian Kemp signed a slew of bills over the past week or so, including the private school voucher bill long sought by Republicans and a bill that will ease regulations over the construction and expansion of medical facilities in rural areas.
His bill-signing events were clustered into themes: education, health care, military members, human trafficking and Georgia’s coastal communities.
Education
Among the education-related bills Kemp signed was Senate Bill 233, also known as the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act, which provides the families of Georgia students enrolled in underperforming school districts with $6,500 scholarships that can be used toward private school or homeschooling expenses, including tuition, fees, textbooks and tutoring.
“Georgia is affording greater choice to families as to how and where they receive their education, while also continuing our efforts to strengthen public schools, support teachers, and secure our classrooms,” Kemp said, and thanked leadership in the House and Senate for prioritizing passage of the bill, which had failed in a close vote in 2023.
Democrats and many public education advocates who opposed the bill argued it will drain resources from public schools and primarily benefit students from wealthy families.
Kemp also signed Senate Bill 351, sponsored by nine Republican senators, which will require social media companies, as of July 1, 2025, to verify their users are at least 16 years old unless they receive approval from a parent.
House Bill 409, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Daniel, R-Locust Grove, directs school systems to consider not having bus stops where a student would have to cross a roadway with a speed limit of 40 mph or greater. The bill also increases the penalty for passing a stopped school bus to $1,000 from $250.
Kemp noted that Ashley Pierce, the mother of Addy Pierce, an 8-year-old who was fatally struck by a motorist as she boarded her school bus, “passionately advocated for and was instrumental in the passage of this legislation.”
Senate Bill 395, sponsored by Sen. Clint Dixon, R-Gwinnett, states that no school visitor or personnel can be prohibited from possessing an opioid reversal drug such as Narcan and directs schools to maintain a supply. It also allows opioid antagonists to be sold in vending machines and directs certain government buildings to maintain a supply of at least three doses.
Senate Bill 464, also sponsored by Dixon, creates the School Supplies for Teachers Program to financially and technically support teachers purchasing school supplies online. It also creates an executive committee of five voting members within the Georgia Council on Literacy and limits the number of approved literacy screeners to five, one of whom must be available to schools for free.
Health care
The governor chose his hometown of Athens as the venue to sign several bills aimed at improving health care in rural and underserved communities.
Among them was House Bill 1339, sponsored by Rep. Butch Parrish, R-Swainsboro, which revises the Certificate of Need process by which the state determines if and how new medical facilities can be built or expanded. The bill provides for several new exemptions, including psychiatric or substance abuse inpatient programs, basic perinatal services in rural counties, birthing centers and new general acute hospitals in rural counties. It also raises the total limit on tax credits for donations to rural hospital organizations to $100 million from $75 million.
Senate Bill 480, sponsored by Sen. Mike Hodges, R-Brunswick, establishes student loan repayments for mental health and substance use professionals serving underserved youth in the state or in unserved geographic areas disproportionately impacted by social determinants of health.
House Bill 872, sponsored by Rep. Lee Hawkins, R-Gainesville, chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee, expands cancelable loans for certain health care professionals to dental students who agree to practice in rural areas.
Senate Bill 293, sponsored by Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, reorganizes county boards of public health and opens the qualifications for the CEO of each county board of health to include either licensed physicians or people with a master’s degree in public health or a related field.
Military members and veterans
Kemp on Wednesday focused on bills to improve military recruitment and provide more work opportunities for veterans and military family members.
House Bill 880, sponsored by Rep. Bethany Ballard, R-Warner Robins, allows spouses of military service members to work under a license they hold in good standing in another state while under the supervision of an existing Georgia medical facility or provider.
Senate Bill 449, sponsored by Sen. Larry Walker, allows military medical personnel to practice for 12 months while a license application is pending, including working as a certified nursing aide, certified emergency medical technician, paramedic or licensed practical nurse. The bill also creates a new advanced practice registered nurse license and makes it a misdemeanor to practice advanced nursing without a license.
Human trafficking
The governor on Wednesday was accompanied by first lady Marty Kemp and other members of the GRACE Commission for the signing of an anti-human trafficking package. It includes Senate Bill 370, which adds certain businesses to the list of organizations that must post human trafficking notices, including convenience stores, body art studios, businesses that employ licensed massage therapists and manufacturing facilities.
Sponsored by Sen. Mike Hodges, R-Brunswick, the bill also allows the Georgia Board of Massage Therapy to initiate inspections of massage therapy businesses and educational programs without notice and requires massage therapy board members to complete yearly human trafficking awareness training.
House Bill 993, sponsored by Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, creates the felony offense of grooming of a minor and creates new penalties for offenses relating to visual mediums depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
House Bill 1201, sponsored by Rep. Houston Gaines, R-Athens, allows human trafficking survivors who received first offender or conditional discharge status to vacate that status for certain crimes, as long as the crime was a direct result of being a victim of human trafficking.
Coastal communities
Earlier today in Brunswick, Kemp signed legislation impacting Georgia coastal communities, including House Bill 244, which amends the laws around how wild game can be hunted and how seafood dealers operate, and House Bill 1341, which designates white shrimp as the state’s official crustacean.
Taxes
Earlier this month Kemp signed several bills related to taxation, including House Bill 1015, sponsored by Rep. Lauren McDonald, R-Cumming, which lowers the state income tax for tax year 2024 to 5.39%, accelerating a multiyear drop in state income taxes that started at 5.75% in 2023 and will continue through 2029.
The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget estimates the tax cut acceleration will save Georgia taxpayers approximately $1.1 billion in calendar year 2024 and about $3 billion over the next 10 years.
Kemp also signed House Bill 1021, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Daniel, R-Locust Grove, which increases the state’s income tax dependent exemption to $4,000 from $3,000.
House Bill 581, sponsored by Reps. Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, and Clint Crowe, R-Jackson, enables a constitutional amendment (House Resolution 1022) to let voters decide whether counties can provide a statewide homestead valuation freeze, which limits the increase in property values to the inflation rate.
The governor has until May 7 to sign or veto bills passed during the legislative session that ended on March 28. Those he takes no action on will automatically become law.
Legislation signed by Kemp is posted on the governor’s website.
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Have questions, comments or tips on education in Georgia? Contact Jill Jordan Sieder on X @journalistajill or at [email protected].
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