GA Code § 2-8-11 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 2 - Agriculture|Chapter 8 - Agricultural Commodities Promotion|Article 2 - Agricultural Commodity Commissions Generally|§ 2-8-11. Definitions

 As used in this article, the term:    "Advertising and sales promotion" means, in addition to the ordinarily accepted meaning thereof, trade promotion and activities for the prevention, modification, or removal of trade barriers which restrict the normal flow of agricultural commodities to market and may include the presentation of facts to and negotiations with state, federal, or foreign governmental agencies on matters which affect the marketing of any commodity or commodities included in any marketing order made effective pursuant to this article.   "Agricultural commodity" means any and all agricultural, horticultural, floricultural, and vegetable products produced in this state or any class, variety, or utilization thereof, either in their natural state or as processed by a producer for the purpose of marketing such product or by a processor as defined in this Code section, and shall include any one, any combination thereof, or all of the agricultural products, livestock and livestock products, poultry and poultry products, timber and timber products, fish and seafood, and the products of the farms and forests of this state. For the purpose of this article, the term "agricultural commodity" shall not mean or include peanuts.   "Commission" means each and every agricultural commodity commission created under this article.   "Distributor" means any person who engages in the operation of selling, marketing, or distributing an agricultural commodity which he has produced or has purchased or acquired from a producer or which he is marketing on behalf of a producer, whether as owner, agent, employee, broker, or otherwise, but shall not include a retailer as defined in this Code section, except a retailer who purchases or acquires from, or handles on behalf of, any producer, an agricultural commodity not theretofore subjected to regulation by the marketing order covering such commodity.   "Handler" means any person engaged within this state as a distributor in the business of distributing an agricultural commodity or any person engaged as a processor in the business of processing an agricultural commodity.   "Marketing order" means an order issued pursuant to this article prescribing rules and regulations governing the processing, distributing, or handling in any manner of any agricultural commodity within this state or establishing an assessment for financing the programs established under this article.   "Person" means an individual, firm, corporation, association, or any other business unit or any combination thereof and includes any state agency which engages in any of the commercial activities regulated pursuant to this article.   "Processor" means any person engaged within this state in the operation of receiving, grading, packing, canning, fermenting, distilling, extracting, preserving, grinding, crushing, or changing the form of an agricultural commodity for the purpose of preparing such agricultural commodity for market or of marketing such commodity or engaged in any other activities performed for the purpose of preparing such commodity for market or of marketing such commodity but shall not include a person engaged in manufacturing another and different product from an agricultural commodity, so changed in form. The term "processor" shall not include an agent of the processor nor any person who receives an agricultural commodity for or on the account of another person.   "Producer" means any person engaged within this state in the business of producing or causing to be produced for market any agricultural commodity as defined in this Code section. In the case of the Agricultural Commodity Commission for Wine and Grapes, such term means a farm winery as defined in subsection (a) of Code Section 3-6-21.1.   "Producer marketing" or "marketed by producers" means any or all operations performed by any producer in preparing for market and includes selling, delivering, or disposing of, for commercial purposes, any agricultural commodity which he has produced to any handler as defined in this Code section.   "Retailer" means any person who purchases or acquires any agricultural commodity for resale at retail to the general public for consumption off the premises; however, such person shall also be included within the definition of "distributor," as set forth in this Code section, to the extent that he engages in the business of a distributor as defined in this Code section.   "Seasonal marketing regulations" means marketing regulations, applicable to a particular marketing order, made effective as prescribed in this article for the purpose of carrying into effect, by administrative order, the marketing regulatory authorizations and the provisions of such marketing order, as such authorizations or provisions may be applicable to or required by changing economic or marketing conditions and requirements from time to time during each marketing season in which such marketing order may operate. Such seasonal marketing regulations shall not extend beyond the marketing order concerned; nor shall they modify or change the language of such marketing order.   "To distribute" means to engage in the business of a distributor as defined in this Code section.   "To handle" means to engage in the business of a handler as defined in this Code section.   "To process" means to engage in the business of a processor as defined in this Code section.     (Ga. L. 1961, p. 301, § 3; Ga. L. 1964, p. 141, § 1A; Ga. L. 1968, p. 398, § 1; Ga. L. 1969, p. 763, § 4; Code 1981, §2-8-3; Code 1981, §2-8-11, as redesignated by Ga. L. 1989, p. 1420, § 1; Ga. L. 2020, p. 611, § 1/HB 1093.)    The 2020 amendment,  effective August 3, 2020, added the last sentence in paragraph (9).   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL   "Business unit" applies in determining eligibility to vote in referendum.   - The "business unit" engaged in the producing of an affected commodity is the appropriate criterion to apply in determining eligibility to vote in commodity commission referendum. 1970 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 70-168.    Each "business unit" is entitled to cast one vote.  1970 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 70-168.   "Producer."   - "Producer" is party responsible for assessments levied by commission. 1976 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 76-4.   "Producer" is also the individual to whom voting rights in the commission referenda must devolve. 1976 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 76-4.