Dawson, Ga. — Farmers said Saturday that they were pleased with the bids that were accepted in the state's first no-irrigation auction, in which the farmers will be paid to not water their crops.
With Georgia facing its fourth straight summer of drought, the state will pay farmers with winning bids not to irrigate in a region that includes cotton and corn fields and the nation's most fertile peanut fields.
Ronnie Lee, left, and Larron Copeland check results of Georgia's irrigation auction. Bidding was Saturday in Dawson, Ga.
The Environmental Protection Division selected about 500 farmers, holding 1,500 permits to withdraw water from the Flint River and its tributaries, to participate in the auction.
Each farmer had to decide how much of a loss he or she would suffer by not irrigating. They began making bids Saturday morning at eight southwest Georgia sites, deducing an acceptable range of bids by talking among themselves.
Their bids were transmitted electronically to EPD headquarters in Atlanta, where they were either approved or rejected. The five rounds of bidding took about five hours.
The state will not release results publicly until Monday.
But at Dawson, a farming community west of Albany, some of the 45 participants said they had made $200 offers that were accepted. In early rounds, the state seemed to be approving only bids of $125 per acre not irrigated.
"I got in at $200," said Benjamin Miller, a peanut and cotton farmer. "I don't think it's a fair price, but it's something I can live with."
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