The USDA released a statement yesterday that indicated Secretary Perdue and Georgia Ag Commissioner Gary Black had been in contact and had full confidence in the classing process. The statement came about as a result of the almost 1 Million bales that had been classed with a remark for seed coat fragment in the Macon Classing Office. This extremely unusual occurrence seems to be a direct result of weather and the state of the crop at the time. We will have a panel discussion at our annual meeting next week on this issue.
Both the Commissioner and the Secretary independently expressed their confidence in the process. The USDA uses many checks and balances and trains all classers to the same standards to assure consistency between classing offices. Several groups have been to the classing office in Macon to view the samples and the process. The classing office is open to visitors and encourages people or groups that would like to see the process to make an appointment and come by. The appointment is to ensure compliance with Covid restrictions.
The FULL STATEMENT Can be found below. We encourage you to follow the link and read the full statement.