Category Archives: Agriculture

GA HB 87 ridiculed in Atlanta; VDT cited

Who could have forseen this? Well, other than anyone who actually knows Georgia farmers. And the VDT becomes thought leader to the world:
“Maybe this should have been prepared for, with farmers’ input. Maybe the state should have discussed the ramifications with those directly affected. Maybe the immigration issue is not as easy as &lquo;send them home,&rquo; but is a far more complex one in that maybe Georgia needs them, relies on them, and cannot successfully support the state’s No. 1 economic engine without them.”
Except of course HB 87 doesn’t just send them home: it also locks up as many as it can catch, to the profit of private prison company CCA, at the expense of we the taxpayers.

That’s as quoted by Jay Bookman in the AJC 17 June 2011, Ga’s farm-labor crisis playing out as planned:

After enacting House Bill 87, a law designed to drive illegal immigrants out of Georgia, state officials appear shocked to discover that HB 87 is, well, driving a lot of illegal immigrants out of Georgia.

It might be funny if it wasn’t so sad.

Continue reading →

Community gardens in buffalo

Brian Meyer wrote in the Buffalo News 15 June 2011, Community gardeners’ wait is over – after 3 years, Council OKs leases
Gardeners are ready to “get dirty” following Tuesday’s Common Council passage of long-awaited leases to turn 34 vacant city-owned lots into neighborhood oases.

Lawmakers approved the leases unanimously and without debate. Some community gardeners have been eagerly awaiting the action for three years.

Mayor Byron W. Brown’s administration delayed submitting the master leases because of numerous concerns. The logjam ended late last week when city planners sent the proposed agreements to the Council for final action.

“We have our insurance signed up, so we’ll Continue reading →

Many rural farmers are taking notice of HB 87 —Patrick Davis

Patrick Davis points out from Macon that HB 87 is producing Lowndes County farm employment problems, and maybe local farmers should take that into account when they vote.

Patrick Davis wrote, Rural Republicans in Georgia can’t have it both ways on immigration reform

With the law passed and ready for implementation, many rural farmers—especially in Central and South Georgia—are taking notice to the exodus of migrant workers and immigrants which has left some farmers without workers to pick crops.

Many of these same farmers that are hurting economically and losing crops in these rural counties had voted Republican for years.

Valdosta’s Ellis Black who represents parts of Lowndes County as a state representative helped to pass Gov. Nathan Deal’s conservative and punitive agenda and consequently it has contributed to drive an increasing number of migrant workers out of the Peach State.

Black has continued to justify his HB-87 vote and attempt to support Gov. Deal’s ridiculous assertion in regard to the use of probationers as a solution.

That last link is to Parolees to replace migrants? Gov. Deal says put probationers in fields by David Rodock in the VDT 15 June 2011, which included: Continue reading →

Gov. Deal celebrates Juneteenth by recommending indentured agricultural labor

Remember 85% of people in the prison system are black, and Gov. Nathan Deal recommends during the week of Juneteenth celebrations, according to David Rodock in the VDT today, Parolees to replace migrants? Gov. Deal says put probationers in fields
With the recent exodus of undocumented Hispanic migrant workers leaving Georgia to avoid the consequences of House Bill 87, Gov. Nathan Deal made a statement on Tuesday suggesting that probationers could potentially fill the approximately 11,000 open jobs in the state’s agricultural economy.

“Specifically, I asked Department of Corrections Commissioner Brian Owens and (Department of Agriculture) Commissioner Gary Black to review the current situation and offer possible options,” said Deal in his statement. “Commissioner Owens has indicated that there are 100,000 probationers statewide, 8,000 of which are in the Southwest region of the state and 25 percent of which are unemployed … I believe this would be a great partial solution to our current status as we continue to move towards sustainable results with the legal options available.”

The potential move would allow probationers who are unable to find work to have a source of income, provided they are able to meet employer standards. Income can then be used to pay probation fines, along with other state fines that are a requirement of their probation sentence.

This fits right in with Joe Pritchard’s rumored suggestion to replace animal shelter employees with interns.

Hey, if there’s one thing Georgia is good at, it’s locking up more people even while other states realize they can’t afford to do that anymore.

So if probationers don’t want to pick onions, lock ’em up again, in the new private prison VLCIA wants to build in Lowndes County! That will benefit private prison executives and investors and not us in Lowndes County, but hey, that will serve those immigrants right!

-jsq

Lowndes County is disaster area —Gov. Deal

Climate change makes Lowndes County a disaster area.

Amber Eady wrote for WALB, Deal requests disaster designation for Lowndes County:

Gov. Deal sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack asking that 22 Georgia counties be declared disaster areas because of Georgia’s ongoing drought.

Lowndes County was on that list of 22 counties that Deal wants to be declared as disaster areas.

-gretchen

Downtown Valdosta Farm Days Grows 4 June 2011

Lots of people and vendors last Saturday, buying local food in downtown Valdosta!

Every other Saturday around the historic Lowndes County Courthouse is Downtown Valdosta Farm Days, 9AM to 1PM, May through September. It’s organized by Valdosta Main Street. Amanda Peacock and shy Mara Register explain what’s going on at the beginning of this playlist showing most of the vendors and the general atmosphere of community festival.


Downtown Valdosta Farm Days Grows 4 June 2011 Part 2 of 2:
, Downtown Valdosta Farm Days,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 4 June 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Still pictures in the flickr set.

-jsq

Hahira Farm Days 4 June 2011

It’s that time again: Hahira Market Days.

Ms. Anderson had cut flowers:


Hahira Market Days Part 1 of 3:
Hahira Market Days, Hahira, Lowndes County, Georgia, 4 June 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

A bunch of customers wanted vegetables: Continue reading →

Hahira Market Days this Saturday

I asked Hahira’s new special events coordinator, Sherri Burgess, “when will the Hahira Farmers’ Market be this year?” She replied:
Market Days will be held on Saturdays from 8 to 12 during the months of June and July.

Sherri Burgess
Special Event Coordinator
City of Hahira
102 S. Church Street
Hahira, GA 31632
229.794.2567
downtown@hahira.ga.us

So meet us at the caboose on Main Street! Get there by 8AM if you can; usually sold out by noon.

The pictures of previous Hahira markets are from 26 June 2010, 3 July 2010, and 10 July 2010.

-jsq

Drug war fail: devastating consequences —Global Commission on Drug Policy

Stop locking up drug users who harm no others, legalize drugs starting with marijuana, switch to health and treatment, stop harrassing farmers, abandon zero tolerance and invest instead in youth activities, focus on reducing harm, and do it now, so says a commission of business moguls, former heads of state, financial professionals, writers, and activists.

Writes Douglas Stanglin today in USA TODAY,

“The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world,” says the Report of the Global Commission on Drug Policy in its opening statement. “Fifty years after the initiation of the U.N. Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and 40 years after President Nixon launched the U.S. government’s war on drugs, fundamental reforms in national and global drug control policies are urgently needed.”
According to whom?
The 19-member commission, a private venture chaired by ex-Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, includes George Schultz, President Reagan’s Secretary of State; Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group; former U.N. Secretary General Koffi Anna; George Papandreou, prime minister of Greece; Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Javier Solana,former EU foreign minister.
Here’s their full report.

What do they recommend? Continue reading →

Gov. Deal asks state to look into farm labor shortages

GA Gov. Nathan Deal doesn’t know what caused the sudden Georgia agricultural labor shortage; asks Ag. Dept. to look into it. Could it be… HB 87?

Jeremy Redmon wrote in the AJC 27 May 2011, Governor asks state to probe farm labor shortages

State officials confirmed Friday that they have started investigating the scope of Georgia’s agricultural labor shortages following complaints that the state’s new immigration enforcement law is scaring away migrant farmworkers.

Gov. Nathan Deal asked for the investigation Thursday in a letter to Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black. Deal wants Black’s department to survey farmers about the impact Georgia’s immigration law, House Bill 87, is having on their industry and report findings by June 10.

The labor shortages have sent farmers scrambling to find other workers for their fall harvests. Others are making hard choices about leaving some fruits and vegetables to wilt on their fields.

Proponents of HB 87 say people who are in the country legally have nothing to worry about concerning the new law. They hope the law that takes effect July 1 will deter illegal immigrants from coming here and burdening the state’s taxpayer-funded public schools, hospitals and jails.

However, I have seen suggestions that the state send taxpayer-funded prisoners to do the agricultural labor. Should we go back to slave labor on plantations?

Better: we don’t need a private prison in Lowndes County. Spend that money on education instead.

-jsq