By Jim Griffith
Registered Forester #1616
As a Georgia Farm Bureau forester, it is periodically necessary for me to state who I work for and who pays me. I want to make it clear that your Georgia Farm Bureau forester works for Georgia Farm Bureau. Georgia Farm Bureau has worked on behalf of private property owners since its inception 67 years ago. The creation of the Georgia Farm Bureau forestry division extends this service to a more specialized area of service to the private land owner, specifically in timber services.
Our Georgia Farm Bureau foresters work with timber owners who hire us in a fiduciary relationship. Fiduciary is a fancy word meaning that one is working in trust or confidence of another. In other words, the timber owner takes the Farm Bureau forester into his confidence and trusts the forester to represent his timber interest to the best of the forester’s knowledge and ability. In the case of selling timber, the Georgia Farm Bureau forester gives his best effort to make sure the timber sale is handled as if it were his own. He represents you!
Georgia Farm Bureau has given us a charge, the same charge they give all Farm Bureau employees: to “look after the Georgia Farm Bureau membership!” And this is what we attempt to do. We take pride in representing landowners in the sale of their timber. We also take the responsibility of this job very serious. Sellers often trust us with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of land and timber. This is the largest transaction many of our clients will ever make. We pledge our integrity and abilities to represent you to the fullest.
Georgia Farm Bureau foresters know timber and are trained to help GFB members with the management or sale of their timber. We are continuously training to stay abreast and meet the ever-changing market conditions and government regulations within the land and timber business. You can count on a Farm Bureau forester to take your best interest to heart in his representation of you.
I regularly get calls from timber owners after they have sold their timber to a local logger or have hired a forestry consultant to represent them. Unfortunately, it is too late to ask my advice if you have already hired a consultant or contracted for the sale. If you have hired a forestry consultant, I hope you did enough research to know he is trustworthy.
Jim Griffith is the General Manager of Georgia Farm Bureau Timber and Real Estate Companies.
Georgia Farm Bureau News – October 2004
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