Tag Archives: Agriculture

Farm Bill Forum Friday in Tifton with Sen. Saxby Chambliss

Two farm bill forums Friday: one in Jesup at 9AM, and one in Tifton at 2PM, both hosted by Senator Saxby Chambliss. GA Ag. Commissioner Gary Black will be at the one in Tifton. Might be a good place to mention you want the farm bill to reauthorize USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grants.

Press Release, 8 March 2012, Chambliss to Host 2012 Farm Bill Forum,

Events will be held March 16th in Jesup and Tifton

On Friday, March 16th, Sen. Chambliss will hold two forums to discuss the upcoming 2012 Farm Bill. The public is invited to attend.

Friday, March 16th, 2012
at 9 am

Altamaha Technical College
C. Paul Scott Polytechnical Center
1777 West Cherry Street
Jesup, GA 31545
Participants will include:
Zippy Duvall, Georgia Farm Bureau
Charles Hall, Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association
Robert Redding, Southern Peanut Farmers Federation
John Maguire , National Cotton Council

Friday, March 16th
at 2 pm

UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center
15 RDC Road
Tifton, GA 31793
Participants will include:
Gary Black, Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture
Charles Hall, Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association
Robert Redding, Southern Peanut Farmers Federation
John Maguire , National Cotton Council
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VLCIA and local counties

In which of these five, seven, eleven, or thirteen counties is Athens, Georgia?

According to Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA), Regional Hub,

Valdosta is a regional hub for eleven Georgia counties and two Florida counties. Valdosta-Lowndes County acts not only as the regional hub for retail, medical, transportation and entertainment. Our community is also the regional hub for employment for five contiguous, predominantly rural Georgia counties and two Florida counties (as indicated in the chart to the right) and supports a thirteen county region referenced from the 2000 Census (see chart attached below).
The five Georgia counties are (alphabetically) Brooks, Cook, Echols, Lanier, and Lowndes, and the two Florida counties are Hamilton and Madison. In which of those seven counties is Athens, Georgia?

The thirteen counties, barely legible on VLCIA’s webpage, are: Berrien GA, Brooks GA, Clinch GA, Colquitt GA, Columbia FL, Cook GA, Dougherty GA, Duval FL, Echols GA, Fulton GA, Hamilton FL, Lanier GA, and Madison FL. Fulton County, Georgia? OK, that’s odd. Hm, the table is entitled

“Journeys To and From LOWNDES GA (Threshold = 50)”.
It’s about vehicles travelling in and out of Lowndes County. So Fulton makes some sense, due to people travelling between here and Atlanta. Local region, though? Not Fulton. Ditto Duval County, Florida. Jacksonville, local? I think not.

So maybe call it an eleven county region. In which of those eleven or thirteen counties is Athens, Georgia?

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Why doesn’t VLCIA buy locally?

Col. Ricketts reminded VLCIA board members at their most recent regular meeting (2012 01 17) that he had asked them for input about trees for Miller and Westside Business Parks.
We have identified trees from a nursery, Select Trees, in Athens, Georgia, with a special five year warranty on those trees, that meet our landscape plans for both Miller and Westside Business Park. As we discussed in our last board meeting, there is some cost savings available to us, and the ability for us to select trees now and hold them if we make a deposit.
OK, I commend VLCIA staff and board for trying to save we the taxpayers money.

But isn’t VLCIA supposed to be promoting local business and agriculture? Why is our Industrial Authority outsourcing to a company halfway across the state? Why doesn’t it buy locally, even if it costs a little more?

For that matter, aren’t there plenty of local trees, like sycamores, magnolias, and even longleaf pines that would cost very little to transplant to a local business park? Maybe those are the types of trees they’re buying. We don’t know, because only the board got the list of trees.

For that matter, why didn’t VLCIA put out a public request for bids for the trees?

Here’s the video:


Why doesn’t VLCIA buy locally?
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Tom Call, Roy Copeland chairman, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett,
Andrea Schruijer Executive Director, J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Project Manager,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 January 2012.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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Some answers and some remaining questions about the Comprehensive Plan

When I spoke at the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission (GLPC) about the Short Term Work Projects (STWP) document on Monday, November 28th, I had questions about several sections, and many of the deleted or modified items. The next day I met with Lowndes County Planner Jason Davenport to discuss my questions. Some of my questions were answered to my satisfaction, some I still had concerns about, and some are still unanswered because they were not actually in his area of expertise.

The document covers all the cities in Lowndes County as well as the unincorporated area. I did get some questions about Valdosta projects answered by Valdosta City Planner Matt Martin in a telephone conversation.

Questions I had about Conservations of Sensitive Areas were answered in detail. For example: Continue reading →

Baltimore’s place-based model

Growth isn’t everything, and vacant lots can be leveraged to deal with food disparity and obesity, Baltimore is demonstrating.

Vanessa Barrington wrote for Grist 21 November 2011, Baltimore’s can-do approach to food justice

…43 percent of the residents in the city’s predominantly black neighborhoods had little access to healthy foods, compared to 4 percent in predominantly white neighborhoods. Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of the city’s adults and almost 40 percent of high school students are overweight or obese.
That’s the problem.

There are solutions:

Speaking on a panel at the recent Community Food Security Coalition Conference in Oakland, Calif., Abby Cocke, of Baltimore’s Office of Sustainability, and Laura Fox, of the city health department’s Virtual Supermarket Program, outlined two approaches to address the city’s food deserts. Both were presenting programs that have launched since Grist last reported on Baltimore’s efforts to address food justice. And both programs come under the auspices of The Baltimore Food Policy Initiative, a rare intergovernmental collaboration between the city’s Department of Planning, Office of Sustainability, and Health Department. They also show how an active, involved city government and a willingness to try new ideas can change the urban food landscape for the better.

According to Cocke, Baltimore’s Planning Department has a new mindset. She calls it a “place-based” model. “In the past,” she says, “growth was seen as the only way to improve the city, but we’re starting to look at ways to make our neighborhoods stronger, healthier, and more vibrant places at the low density that they’re at now.”

The article outlines the specific solutions, such as: Continue reading →

Videos of the Weigh-In at the Hog Show

As the Hog Show Weigh-In yesterday, in addition to still pictures, Gretchen took videos. Don’t miss the piggy kung fu! Here’s a playlist:


Weigh-In at the Hog Show
agriculture, hogs, pigs,
34th Annual Lowndes Area Market Show and Sale, 4H + FFA (Hog Show),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 31 October 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

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Students Compete in the Local Hog Show

Gretchen went to the weigh-in yesterday, and will be at the show today. Pictures and videos to come.

According to Lowndes County Schools 28 October 2011, Students Compete in the Local Hog Show:

One hundred-thirty youngsters from Echols, Lanier, and Lowndes counties are registered to exhibit their hogs in the 34th Annual Lowndes Area Market Show and Sale, to be held on Tuesday, November 1st. These elementary, middle, and high school students are members of either local 4H or FFA organizations.

The Show will be held at the Lowndes County Civic Center, with judging of weight divisions beginning at 5:00 PM. Hogs will be judged according to market standards for providing the best pork possible. Showmanship classes will follow, where the students will be evaluated for their success in exhibiting their animal.

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Gary Black starts to see reason on HB 87

Jim Galloway quotes GA Ag. Commissioner Gary Black:
“One of the discussions we have to have is, do we want to have our food produced here or somewhere else? I don’t think Wal-Mart is going to cease to carry cucumbers. I think they’re going to get them somewhere,”
Also in Galloway’s AJC column yesterday, Gary Black and the shifting debate over illegal immigration, Black won’t back off HB 87, but admits it’s the source of the problem:
The state agriculture commissioner is walking a fine line. “Let me be clear. My position from a standpoint of amnesty and pathways to citizenship has not changed one iota,” he said.

Nor has Black renounced HB 87. Rather, state efforts to enforce federal immigration laws — blocked as a consequence of lawsuits — have contributed to “a sea change” in Washington’s attitude, he said.

“Without HB 87 and some of the other proposals, I don’t know that we’d be having this discussion about changing the guest-worker program,” Black said.

Black seems to have organized some interesting timing of a report release by his department: Continue reading →

Jack Kingston from Valdosta to Tifton to Atlanta

You may have seen by the front page of the VDT this morning that Jack Kingston was in Valdosta yesterday morning and by the VDT editorial that he will be in Atlanta today. The VDT whines:
Why do you have to take the one politician that actually works for us?
Well, some farmers in Tifton didn’t take kindly to the main idea Kingston was pushing yesterday. Said a farmer:
I have tried working with probationers and I’ll just say that it was a very inconsistent supply of workers.
Hm, the VDT previously was of a similar opinion, an opinion that got quoted in the AJC. Maybe the VDT didn’t know Kingston was pushing HB 87, even though they sat down with him yesterday morning?

We don’t need an ALEC-organized private prison law like HB 87 to profit private prison company CCA, and we don’t need a CC private prison in Lowndes County. Spend those tax dollars on rehabilitation and education instead.

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Where did your promise go, Commissioner Gary Black? —Susan Leaven

Received 9 August. -jsq
From: SUSAN LEAVENS
To: gary.black@agr.georgia.gov
Sent: Tue, August 9, 2011 4:51:54 PM
Subject: Where did your promise go? We were counting on you Commissioner Gary Black.

Dear Commissioner G. Black,

On July 26th 2011, I contacted you with anticipation of a response to matters of concern regarding Animal Protection problems in your division, as well as issues involving Lowndes County Animal Services.

On July 30th 2011, I sent a second email to your office, indicating

Continue reading →