Soil amendments driven by business and politics.

Several major companies in Georgia are responsible for handling soil amendments, and these companies are run by a small network of people who have strong business and sometimes political connections. In one case, the Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) seemed to act quickly to protect a company from an environmental complaint. A complaint was filed by a concerned citizen in March 2023, alleging that a company was illegally spreading an unregistered soil amendment on a property owned by Little Ogeechee Farms in Warren County, Georgia. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) investigated the complaint and found that the soil amendment had not been registered. The soil amendment was traced back to a company called GWAR, owned by businessman Kacy Cronan, who had connections with another soil amendment company, Proponic Solutions, owned by businessman Jeff Fair. Fair declined to comment on the investigation, and Cronan declined multiple requests for comment.

The EPD investigation found that despite the unregistered nature of the soil amendment, the landowner, Justin Echols, claimed that the soil amendments came from Nestle Purina and Publix. A spokesperson for Purina said the company was unaware of the situation and that their contract required their waste to be plow-injected into the ground. Publix did not respond to multiple inquiries. The EPD issued a Notice of Violation, an official document that informs individuals that they have broken the law and that enforcement actions are forthcoming. However, three days later, the EPD investigation was dropped after Echols communicated that the amendments were approved and registered with GDA. During that window of three workdays, GDA asked Fair to produce “data or studies” to demonstrate that the amendment would agriculturally benefit soils. His response included general information from the UGA Agricultural Extension about soil amendments that are available online, but not any data or studies of his particular product. GDA had no further questions in the email exchange. Otherwise, Fair and Cronan were all set; the email served as “formal approval.”

Former Georgia Agricultural Commissioner, Gary Black, said the rushed order was business as usual for the GDA. Black said that as long as a product met the department’s specifications, they would give the product approval. In March 2023, the case against Little Ogeechee Farms was dismissed after the farm agreed to take unspecified actions to address complaints about odours and vermin due to the application of soil amendments. Little Ogeechee Farms sold 478 acres of its Warren County property to Smooth Rock Farm for $1,268,000 on March 17, 2023. Little Ogeechee Farms was named as a debtor in a UCC filing, along with Echols, Georgia state Representative Trey Rhodes, and Kacy Cronnan involved in the farm equipment.

Cronan is also a partner in Waste Eliminator, a company that acquired GWAR in 2023. Waste Eliminator trucks are a common sight in some rural counties, hauling tanks of soil amendment. Cronan founded a compost company called Georgia Soil in 2023, now operated by Ward Black, the son of Gary Black. That company is also now under Waste Eliminator. Cronan and his father, Kenneth Cronan, had ties to former Georgia governor Nathan Deal. In 2011, then-governor Deal appointed Kacy Cronan to the Georgia Board of Public Safety while Deal was still a partner in Gainesville Salvage and Disposal with Kenneth Cronan. Gainesville Waste and Recycling was listed as the applicant for the landfill on state paperwork, according to an AP investigation at the time.

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