August 8, 2022
In a rural county like Atkinson, Georgia, an employer’s responsibility is about far more than creating jobs and making payroll. It’s about being there for the community, and that’s the mentality that Cady Bag President and CEO Doug Smith embodies.
In the video below, you’ll learn about how this plays out the company.
Cady Bag is a leading producer of polypropylene fabrics and bags used for crop packaging and consumer products such as pet food, bird seed, and others based in Atkinson County. It prides itself on its community impact and family focus.
Doug makes sure the company supports every local school concert, soccer team, football program it can because he believes that is what truly matters. Working for Cady Bag is not supposed to be just another job. He wants all his employees to be proud of the company.
In 2010, the company went through a restructuring and sought capital wherever it could get it. Most of these loans came with tight restrictions that made it difficult for the company to grow and granted a great deal of power to a third party.
In 2020, an investment through the Georgia Agribusiness and Rural Jobs Act (GARJA) program allowed Cady Bag to regain freedom over its finance. During the pandemic, the company never shut down production, and expanded its workforce by 8 employees. Doug believes Cady Bag’s COVID reality would have been much different had capital still been managed by a third-party. He predicts the company would have had to make major layoffs had the GARJA program not been available, allowing the company to be stewards of its own capital.
For a company as intertwined with the outside community as Cady Bags, this would have been detrimental—not just for the firm but for the entire county.
In Atkinson County, a quarter of the 8,391-person population lives in poverty. Cady Bag employs more than 100 people and provides comprehensive benefits. 95% of the company’s jobs are accessible to those with only a high school degree or equivalent, helping expand the local workforce and providing opportunities for people who are often overlooked.
The importance of local employment in a small town goes beyond these statistics. When Angela Hernandez was hired, she did not have a car, but she was able to walk to work. She considers Cady Bag family, and it is. Her husband, brother, and son have all worked or currently work for the company.
Angela is not alone in her family ties to Cady Bag. At a rural business, the main recruitment tools are friends and family, making community connection crucial to the company.
With help from the GARJA program, the company has continued growing and giving back to Atkinson. The Cady Bag Story is a testament to the importance of rural businesses and their impact on the surrounding community.
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