Georgia is introducing a new incentive for landowners dealing with feral hogs, an invasive species that tears up crops, damages habitat, and drives up farm costs.
What's happening?
Through a pilot program from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the state is trying a new approach: offering landowners a shot at free whole-sounder feral hog traps while tackling an expensive problem that has proved hard to solve.
As Fox 5 Atlanta reported, a University of Georgia study led by doctoral student Justine Smith found that three landowners in southwest Georgia may be losing more than $100,000 per year because of wild pigs.
The study said wild pigs can harm farms in several ways, from rooting out planted seeds and crushing crops to chewing on equipment.
According to the UGA Extension, the animals are responsible for about $150 million in damage across Georgia each year.
Charlie Killmaster, Georgia DNR's deer and feral hog biologist, said the state still does not have a full picture of the problem's scope.
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"The problem with feral hogs is we don't have a lot of good information because they're considered a pest, we don't have reporting requirements," Killmaster said, per Fox 5 Atlanta.
Why does it matter?
For farmers, it is a direct hit to income, labor, and food production.
"In the grand scheme of things, especially for these farmers, any money lost is a lot of time and effort put into planting these crops," Smith said, per Fox 5 Atlanta.
The issue also extends beyond the farm gate and affects ecosystems. Fox 5 Atlanta reported that Georgia DNR ranks wild pigs among the species causing some of the most damage.
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These pigs are not native to Georgia, a major reason they have become such a problem.
What's being done?
The state's initiative, known as the Hog Down Awards Program, aims both to draw more landowners into hog control and to give them tools that can make that work more effective.
Under the pilot, five qualifying entrants will be chosen at random every quarter, and each will get a whole-sounder feral hog trap worth about $3,500, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.
The program runs annually from July 1 through June 30, with drawings held in the first week of October, January, April, and July.
Killmaster said the state wants the rewards to do more than simply recognize effort.
"We want to, at the same time, reward efforts for the people that are doing control, but also reward them in a way that's going to make them more effective in the future," he said.
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