Category Archives: Agriculture

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

Farmers complain about labor shortage due to Georgia immigration law

Jeremy Redmon wrote in the AJC 26 May 2011, Farmers tie labor shortage to state’s new immigration law, ask for help
Migrant farmworkers are bypassing Georgia because of the state’s tough new immigration enforcement law, creating a severe labor shortage among fruit and vegetable growers here and potentially putting hundreds of millions of dollars in crops in jeopardy, agricultural industry leaders said this week.
Who could have predicted such a thing?

Anyway, how is it going? Continue reading →

Who will pick Vidalia onions now that immigrants are scared away?

Could Georgia’s anti-immigration law already have ill effects?

AP wrote May 20, 2011, Immigration crackdown worries Vidalia onion county:

Signs point to an exodus in Vidalia onion country. Fliers on a Mexican storefront advertise free transportation for workers willing to pick jalapenos and banana peppers in Florida and blueberries in the Carolinas. Buying an outbound bus ticket now requires reservations. While most states rejected immigration crackdowns this year, conservative Georgia and Utah are the only states where comprehensive bills have passed. With the ink barely dry on Georgia’s law, among the toughest in the country, the divisions between suburban voters and those in the countryside are once again laid bare when it comes to immigration, even among people who line up on many other issues.

Guess who wanted this crackdown even though rural south Georgians didn’t:

The crackdown proved popular in suburban Atlanta, where Spanish-only signs proliferate and the Latino population has risen dramatically over the past few decades. Residents complain that illegal immigrants take their jobs and strain public resources.
That’s right: Atlanta, not content with lusting after our water, now scares off our workers.

Do immigrants really take jobs from locals? Such claims never seem to have data to back them up. I tend to agree with Carlos Santana:

“This is about fear, that people are going to steal my job,” Santana said of the law. “No we ain’t. You don’t clean toilets and clean sheets, stop shucking and jiving.”
In south Georgia local people won’t pick Vidalia onions for the wages immigrants will, and the wages locals want the farmers can’t afford.

Remember who profits from this crackdown, at the expense of Georgia farmers and taxpayers: private prison companies and their investors.

We don’t need a private prison in Lowndes County. Spend those tax dollars on education instead.

-jsq

PS: Vidalia onion story owed to Jane Osborn.

U.S. drug war afflicts Latin America and rebounds on U.S.

The war on drugs causes violence, poverty, and illiteracy in Latin America that drives illegal immigration into the U.S., for the profit of Monsanto, military contractors, and private prison companies. Does that seem right to you?

Neal Peirce wrote a syndicated column 22 May 2011, Misguided U.S. drug policies afflict Mexico, Central America:

The war on drugs in Mexico, partially funded by hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. government assistance, has not only failed to curb the trade but intensified horrific violence, corruption and human rights abuses, writes Neal Peirce.

For most Americans, the recent news of popular demonstrations in Mexico was probably a small diversion from the daily tide of bloody global reports from such faraway hot spots as Pakistan, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan and Bahrain.

Why worry, most of us likely concluded, if thousands of Mexicans are marching in the streets, protesting the horrific violence and high death toll in their nation’s raging drug war? Isn’t that their problem?

It’s true, the news reports focus less on the American role, more on growing anger with the government of President Felipe Calderón and the meager returns from the massive police and military crackdown on the drug trade he inaugurated in 2006.

Since then, more than 37,000 Mexicans have been murdered, often tortured and brutalized before their deaths, as cartels battle for control of drug smuggling routes and brazenly assassinate anyone, official or average citizen, they think is in their way.

The hard lesson is that the war on drug dealers, decreed by Calderón and partially funded by hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. government assistance, has not only failed to curb the trade but intensified horrific violence, corruption and human-rights abuses.

So what can be done? Continue reading →

2011 Georgia Logistics Summit @ VLCIA 17 May 2011

Col. Ricketts reported that VLCIA participated in panel discussions at the 2011 Georgia Logistics Summit. He mentioned among topics of interest: agribusiness, technology and life sciences. He said they also got a chance to look at expansion in Savannah.

Here’s the video:


2011 Georgia Logistics Summit @ VLCIA 17 May 2011
Regular Meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Allan Ricketts Acting Executive Director,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 May 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

This would have been a great PR opportunity for VLCIA, if VLCIA knew how to do PR.

-jsq

PS: No, he didn’t really talk that fast; that’s an artifact of the video editing to separate out this item. That’s why we usually just record in short clips that require no editing.

Lenny’s Farmers Market, Americus

Keven Gilbert wrote in The Americus Times-Recorder 14 May 2011, Lenny’s Market expanding cornucopia: Offerings include eggs, pastured meats, organic veggies, fruits
Last weekend Lenny’s Market marked opened for the summer season, showcasing fresh local produce and much more well into the fall. On Saturday some early offerings were available by a few local producers, including William and Lydia Overholt and their daughter Eunice. The Overholts own Willso Farm Bakery and Eggs in Montezuma and have been selling at Lenny’s Market for the past three years.

“We like to be here every week, Saturdays mostly,” William said.

The Overholts arrived around 7:30 a.m. with fresh picked Vidalia type onions, beets, romaine lettuce, cabbage and zucchini, ready to sell.

“They’re picked the day before we come down,” William said.

Lydia said that they will have more things as the summer progresses like green peppers and eggplant.

There’s more in the story about other foods available in the market.

They also have entertainment. One of my high school friends says a Led Zepellin cover band brought in some of us old fogies, and they often have more current music.

-jsq

This post owed to Clayton Freeman.

How to get public officials to respond to the citizens?

Leigh Touchton asked me,
Mr. Quarterman, what can we do, do we have to go to the state legislature to get a law passed to force these so-called public officials to answer questions and respond to the citizens?
First of all, my compliments to anyone such as Leigh Touchton who has been doing politics around here longer than me for asking my opinion, because that indicates they are pretty good at it and are probably asking many people their opinions.

My answer: carrots along with sticks, and shine some light! That all builds political capital, which will be needed for elections.

We need many people building a community doing many things. If I knew a simple answer that would change things magically overnight, I’d recommend it, but I don’t. I don’t even know if I know a long answer, but I’m pretty sure that any answer will require a community, because Continue reading →

Chastity tells us about Healthy Options of Days Gone By

Healthy Options had a table at the first Valdosta Downtown Farm Days, and Chastity told us about their products with no preservatives and no synthetics.

Here’s the video:


Chastity tells us about Healthy Options of Days Gone By
Downtown Valdosta Farm Days, Courthouse Square,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 May 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq