Page 8 - Georgia Forestry - Issue 1 - Winter 2024
P. 8
Jamie Jordan
Floyd County
Raised in a family of row croppers, Jamie Jordan has known the world of agriculture since birth. Growing up, he took the time to learn all the tools of the agriculture and forestry industry, spending time not only on his family farm but also working in nearby operations and learning about the industry at Berry College.
In the 1980s, he decided he wanted to branch out from the family tradition of row cropping and work with his brother to start a forestry operation in Armuchee, GA. At first, they started by hand-planting the trees, then began outsourcing that labor before renting heavier equipment from the Georgia Forestry Commission. It was hard work that was met with many unplanned learning experiences. After several decades of tending the forest, he recently harvested his first 300 acres of timber — only to learn that harvesting timber, despite timber being an agricultural product, is much different than harvesting row crops financially.
“When we sell cotton, corn, soybeans and wheat, we don’t pay harvest tax like we do on timber. Timber to me is agriculture,” said Jordan.
And that timber, unlike row crops, is assessed at 100% of its value versus the 40% that all other real property is assessed in the state. As Jordan prepares to reforest the land this year, he knows it won’t be him, but instead his children who must plan for the next harvest. He also knows that planning can be tricky, given unforeseeable circumstances decades away, and hopes that state leaders can at least bring down the tax burden to help.
“It would help a pretty good lick to have that 60% back. When you consider the cost of the cruising and reforestation, it’s tremendous. When you look at it over 35 years, there’s really not a lot left when you pay taxes,” said Jordan. “Then factor in that we can’t predict the markets 35 years out, we’re really at the mercy of the market. The land costs and the costs of the timber, we don’t know where it will be or how much we can
realistically make off of it.”
