by Shelby Wentz, ABAC Agricultural Communication, May 2026 graduate
You never leave the Sunbelt Ag Expo without souvenirs, right? How about a unique item supporting Georgia agriculture but also supporting Georgia-grown cotton? This year’s souvenir shirts are made directly from cotton grown right on the grounds of the Sunbelt Ag Expo. An original design you choose for your t-shirt will also be live-printed on site. This seed-to-shirt experience is made possible by the Magnolia Loom brand. Support Georgia Agriculture (SGA) is a subsidiary brand of Magnolia Loom.
Support Georgia Agriculture started in 2020 at the peak of COVID to help raise funds for the Georgia FFA Foundation. In the beginning, SGA held a two-week-long t-shirt fundraiser and raised $15,000 in funds.
Zeke Chapman, owner of Magnolia Loom and visionary behind Support Georgia Agriculture, knew they could do even more. “Since the fundraiser of two weeks was so successful, we decided to continue the brand,” explained Chapman. “Since 2020, we have raised over $185,000 total.”
The possibilities of using these funds are endless for the Georgia FFA Foundation. The funds are used for scholarships, award programs, and areas of support to Georgia FFA.
The opportunity to raise funds in such a fun and creative way is as unique as the fibers used to create each individual shirt. The entire Magnolia Loom process to create Support Georgia Agriculture shirts is approximately 1,200 miles in the Southeast depending on where the cotton is grown. The road trip from seed to shirt has destinations in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. All in all, there are six essential steps in the process to take raw cotton out of the field and make it your favorite t-shirt you will wear for years to come.
“Our future goals will be continued by raising awareness for Georgia agriculture and doing it in a way that people who are involved can connect with it and understand why agriculture is extremely important to Georgia,” said Chapman. “As the future goes on, we hope to see students and people of FFA that have supported us, work for us or even be a part of what we do.”
Magnolia Loom is the brand of apparel that is responsible for creating the t-shirts for the Support Georgia Agriculture initiatives.
“After a successful run in 2020, we launched the entire brand in 2021,” said Chapman. “Our goal is to bring more of the supply chain into Georgia, which will be closer to home. This will not only bring back part of an industry that used to be essential in our rural Georgia communities, but it will also help us shorten the trip of seed to shirt for a final product, which will have a positive environmental and economic impact.”
Something new added this year to the exclusive Sunbelt Ag Expo souvenir t-shirts is the neck tag on the t-shirts. These tags will say: “Grown in Colquitt County at Darrell Williams Research Farm.” A QR code will also be on the tag where you can learn more about the Darrell Williams Research Farm and the other farmers in the Magnolia Loom family.
Chip Blalock, Executive Director of Sunbelt Ag Expo, supports the buy local movement. “People love locally grown food, but also like to know where their cotton t-shirts come from,” Blalock said. “The Farm crew – Cody, Cali, and Mason – takes great pride in seeing the finished product of the t-shirts. They work hard planting, growing, and harvesting the cotton for these souvenir shirts.”
Make sure to stop by the Family Living Center to purchase your very own 2024 exclusive Sunbelt Ag Expo t-shirt and many other pieces of swag from Support Georgia Agriculture.
