The Georgia Ag Tax Exemption program, or GATE, has been well received by producers from across the state.

When Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black spoke Feb. 6 to the Georgia Agribusiness Council Legislative Breakfast, he reported there have been more than 22,000 applications submitted.

All of this activity has been happening without knowing exactly what would be covered under the program. The Georgia Department of Revenue has finally released a listing of qualifying purchases.

Obviously, big-ticket items like tractors and tractor attachments are covered under the program, but machinery and equipment used to clean and maintain poultry houses are covered as well. Other pieces of equipment that are covered are hand tools and chain saws, employee safety equipment, off-road equipment and trailers such as livestock trailers and trailers to carry farm equipment and finished products. Repair and replacement parts for tractors and farm machinery are covered as well. These include tires, batteries, oil, filters and hydraulic fluids.

Items that are considered to be agricultural inputs also fall under the program. Ag inputs include seed and seedlings, fertilizers and pesticides, feed and livestock medicine, fencing, and items like bags and labels used to pack agricultural products.

A large category that is covered and will benefit many of the poultry producers in the region is energy. This includes dyed or off-road diesel and electricity on qualifying uses. For electricity to be covered under the GATE program, the energy used must be metered separately from energy used for nonagricultural purposes. The exemption to this is if the energy used for nonag purposes is 10 percent or less of the total energy use supplied to the meter. However, electricity being metered to your personal residence does not qualify even if the meter is also supplying energy for an agricultural purpose.

This listing is not at all comprehensive, so be sure to consult with the Department of Revenue on exact purchases that are covered. The website to the department is etax.dor.ga.gov.

Michael Wheeler is county extension coordinator for the UGA Cooperative Extension in Hall County. You can contact him at 770-535-8293, www.hallcounty.org/extension. His column appears biweekly on Thursday’s Business page and at gainesvilletimes.com.