Aug. 13—BOGART, Ga. — DeMott Peanut and Fertilizer Company, Inc. of Doerun, Ga was recently named the Second Quarter Winner of the AgriTrust of Georgia Quarterly Safety Initiative.

Since Don DeMott started DeMott Peanut in 1967, a lot of things have changed. Farmers have gone from harvesting 1,000 pounds of peanuts to the acre to upwards of 5,000 pounds to the acre, tractors can just about drive themselves, and computers are everywhere. But there is one thing that has not changed: The farmers need a quality place to sell their crops, and for a lot of those peanut farmers in the Doerun area, they use DeMott Peanut to handle their needs.

DeMott Peanut & Fertilizer Company is now owned by Mike and Janet DeMott. As a buying point, they receive their peanuts from farmers, then clean, dry, inspect, grade, and store the crop until it can be sent to a sheller.

A normal day involves trucks bringing wagons in from the field to get weighed and inspected, tractors moving wagons to the drying stations, and trucks and trailers taking the dried peanuts to the shellers. With so much activity, it is easy to see how the buying point could be a potentially dangerous place.

But AgriTrust of Georgia said the DeMotts take safety seriously. Their safety philosophy is simple: Preventing an accident is far better than the pain and suffering of the healing process of an injury.

DeMott Peanut & Fertilizer Company holds regular safety meeting with their nine full time and 35 seasonal workers to ensure everyone is on the same page. The topics vary from working in hot weather to fire extinguisher safety and backing equipment, but the end goal is the same: Keep all the workers safe.

Their commitment to safety has earned DeMott Peanut & Fertilizer Company a $2,000 check for winning the AgriTrust of Georgia's Quarterly Safety Initiative. With their winnings, they plan on upgrading some of their safety signage to all employees are aware of potential hazards.

AgriTrust of Georgia is a group self-insured workers' compensation fund that provides workers' compensation insurance coverage for the agricultural industry in the state of Georgia. The Quarterly Safety Initiative is designed to encourage all of the fund members to participate in an active safety program.