Today is the first
Hahira Southern Village Market Day,
Vendors, food, and live music, 5-8PM!
This happens every Third Thursday in downtown Hahira.
If you come in from I-75 or Valdosta, you’ll see these signs:
Continue readingTag Archives: Agriculture
How to make a rural economy desirable: beyond retirees
Basing a local economy on attracting retirees may not work so well anymore. Fortunately, there are plenty of things we can do here to provide jobs for our graduates and to attract non-retirees.
Jim Galloway wrote for the AJC Saturday, Rural areas a less populated place as Baby Boomers shy away,
This week, the U.S. Census Bureau issued 2012 population estimates showing that, for the first time ever, the rural population of America has suffered a measureable drop.
“First time ever”? I guess Galloway has never heard of Continue reading
GM Ag corporations thank Jack Kingston for Monsanto rider
A long list of agricultural corporations wrote a letter thanking Jack Kingson (R GA-01) for working to get the Monsanto rider into the 2013 Ag. bill:
Again, we commend Subcommittee Chairman Kingston’s efforts and urge the support of Section 733 in the Fiscal Year 2013 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.
This letter is on
Monsanto’s own website.
It contains not one word about public health or quality of food or preservation of farmers who do not choose to
poison people the Monsanto way.
The glyphosate mentioned in the letter is the principal ingredient in Roundup, and
research shows it causes DNA damage even when vastly diluted.
Monsanto’s glyphosate-resistant crops are genetically modified to include a gene which produces a poison that
other research indicates is toxic to humans.
These poisons are what the Monsanto rider makes harder to get out of fields.
June 12, 2012
The Honorable Harold Rogers
Chairman
House Committee on Appropriations
United States House of Representatives
H‐307 U.S. Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515The Honorable Norm Dicks
Ranking Member
House Committee on Appropriations
United States House of Representatives
1016 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515Dear Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Dicks:
Our organizations strongly support Section 733 of the Fiscal Year 2013 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The provision will give growers assurance that crops developed through biotechnology that have already been approved by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) can be planted and harvested under temporary stewardship conditions in the event of litigation against the agency’s decision. We commend Subcommittee Chairman Kingston for including Section 733 in the subcommittee bill and urge your support for this necessary provision when the Appropriations Committee considers this bill later this month. The provision addresses Continue reading
Monsanto rider came from south Georgia: Jack Kingston GA-01
Jack Kingston (GA-01) slipped the Monsanto rider into a recent law, requiring “the Secretary of Agriculture to grant a temporary permit for the planting or cultivation of a genetically engineered crop, even if a federal court has ordered the planting be halted until an Environmental Impact Statement is completed”.
Alexis Baden-Mayer wrote for AlterNet 8 July 2012, The “Monsanto Rider”: Are Biotech Companies About to Gain Immunity From Federal Law?
Whom do we have to thank for this sneak attack on USDA safeguards? The agricultural sub-committee chair Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) — who not coincidentally was voted “legislator of the year for 2011-2012” by none other than the Biotechnology Industry Organization, whose members include Monsanto and DuPont. As reported by Mother Jones, the Biotechnology Industry Organization declared Kingston a “champion of America’s biotechnology industry” who has “helped to protect funding for programs essential to the survival of biotechnology companies across the United States.”
The Biotechnology Industry Organization’s PR about that award of 24 April 2012 says down at the bottom:
Photos of the award presentation are available upon request.
If that award is such an honor,
why are they hiding the pictures of Jack Kingston receiving it?
If Monsanto’s products are so great, why don’t they label them
so we can tell which they are?
Why did a French court
just uphold a conviction of Monsanto
for poisoning a French farmer?
Why does Monsanto
oppose independent GMO research?
And why did
hundreds of thousands of people just march against Monsanto?
Could it be because of
liver and kidney damage, cancer and birth defects, pollution of water and air,
systematic gaming of the patent system,
perversion of the regulatory system,
and corruption of the legislative system?
Speaking of corruption, Kingston has put the survival of biotechnology companies above the survival of farmers and the health of the American people.
Jack Kingston, voted Biotech “Legislator of the Year.” Responsible for adding the Monsanto Immunity Rider to the farm bill (H.R. 5973, Section 733). Tell him what you think!
www.facebook.coim/jackkingston/, 202-225-5821, 912-352-0101
-jsq
Religious freedom and the neighbors @ LCC 2013-05-14
Apparently concern about a different religion is what it takes to get a Lowndes County Commissioner to speak up for the majority of the neighbors.
After Utilities Director Mike Allen outlined the case again
at the
Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 14 May 2013
Commissioner John Page
elaborated on his question of
the previous morning:
But the trust deed that we have in our notebook says it’s for the Valdosta Islamic Center Corporation, so this is a, uh, I know they’re calling it the Mercy Community Center, but isn’t this going to be a Muslim worship center instead of a subdivision?
County Planner Jason Davenport responded:
Continue readingGeorgia missing out on solar jobs behind New Jersey and Michigan
Other states, even New Jersey and far-north Michigan,
are beating Georgia to solar jobs.
Why isn’t sunny Georgia leading in one of the fastest-growing industries in the country that is deploying rural jobs everywhere else?
Hint: who’s
holding a shareholder meeting this month?
Carin Hall wrote for energydigital 13 May 2013, Solar Jobs Outnumber Texas Ranchers and US Coal Miners: New statistics show that solar is one of the fastest growing industries in the US, creating thousands of jobs across the country
There are now more solar energy workers in the state of Texas than there are ranchers, according to solar research group The Solar Foundation.
The group’s data mapping out solar jobs across the nation also showed that there are more solar jobs in California than actors, and more solar workers than coal miners nationwide. Sunny states like California and Arizona topped the list. Wyoming came in last, with just 50 workers, while Utah showed a mere 290 solar workers despite being one of the country’s sunniest states.
Even the states with less sunshine like New Jersey and Michigan showed a high number of solar jobs—thanks to favorable tax and regulatory policies that help attract developers to cope with high electricity prices.
New Jersey is #9 and Michigan is #15 according to
The Solar Foundation’s map of State Solar Jobs.
Where’s Georgia?
Number 41 in solar jobs per capita.
Yet Michigan is #47 by maximum solar resource and New Jersey is #36,
while Georgia is #18: much sunnier than those northern states.
Why is Georgia so far behind?
LEGAL STATUS OF THIRD-PARTY OWNERSHIP: NOT ALLOWED
Because of Continue reading
Videos: trucks and row crops @ LCC 2013-04-23
Plus
a presentation to Joyce Evans,
all about
mosquitoes, and
a love fest between the county and the VDT!
Here’s the agenda with a few notes, and links into the video. See also the LAKE videos of the previous morning’s work session.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
Agricultural poverty resources meeting
Received yesterday from Jerome Tucker about the USDA StrikeForce Initiative: “Unfortunately, 90 percent of America’s persistent poverty counties are in rural America. USDA’s StrikeForce aims to increase investment in rural communities for technical assistance and other resources in priority, poverty-stricken communities.” -jsq
StrikeForce Georgia Informational Meeting
Informational Meeting
Thursday, May 23, 2013
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
(Individual media interview time will be from
1:00-2:00PM)
Hosted By:
Fort Valley State University
Agricultural Technology Conference Center,
Camp John Hope Road, Fort Valley, GA 31030
This free meeting is open to the general public, partners and members of the press to get a better understanding of this expanding USDA initiative and to learn where it's heading in Georgia!
Pre-Registration is requested by May 20, 2013 by emailing Continue reading
Videos: trucks and row crops, and Earth Day again @ LCC 2013-04-22
Seven minutes, with some discussion about trucks
and irrigation of row crops on a liquid waste application site.
There was no special presentation, not about
the Westside Archives,
nor about anything else.
They did mention this morning’s Earth Day event again,
and added a little bit of detail.
Here’s the agenda with a few notes, and links into the video.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor
A contract, an alcohol license, two bids, and a special presentation @ LCC 2013-04-22
The special presentation is about the Westside Archives.
The agenda doesn’t say what that is, but
Valdosta City Council and former Mayor Sonny Vickers supports it,
as you can see in this
video by George Boston Rhynes.
According to the VDT 15 February 2010, Vickers
received the Westside Archives Achievement Award for more than two decades of service as a city councilman to the citizens of Valdosta. Westside Archives and the Kill-Me-Quick Community sponsored this award.
At the same time, three other people got Westside Archives awards, including
Lowndes County Commissioner Joyce Evans was granted the Citizenship Award for her services to the county and its citizens.
Here’s the agenda.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor