{"id":330,"date":"2012-11-15T12:26:38","date_gmt":"2012-11-15T17:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/11\/agriculture-alive-and-well-in-lowndes-even-kay-harris-says-so.html"},"modified":"2012-11-15T12:26:38","modified_gmt":"2012-11-15T17:26:38","slug":"agriculture-alive-and-well-in-lowndes-even-kay-harris-says-so","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/11\/agriculture-alive-and-well-in-lowndes-even-kay-harris-says-so.html","title":{"rendered":"Agriculture alive and well in Lowndes: even Kay Harris says so"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nThe VDT went out and did some research and discovered that
\nagriculture is not only still here in Lowndes County,
\nit’s one of the biggest industries here, and by some
\nmeasures it’s increasing.
\nWhat if the local elected and appointed and self-appointed
\nboards and authorities helped promote agriculture
\nas a local industry?\n<\/p>\n

\nKay Harris wrote for the VDT yesterday,
\n
\nSouth Georgia agriculture alive and well<\/a>,\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nAgriculture and forestry remain among the strongest economic engines
\nin South Georgia, including Lowndes County.\n<\/p>\n

\nA look at the recent farmgate value for 2011 for Lowndes County
\nshows a $70 million effect on the local economy, making it one of
\nthe strongest private-sector industries in the county following
\nSouth Georgia Medical Center.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe popularity of The Times’ bi-monthly sister publication Ag Scene
\nled this newspaper to look at the ag\/forestry industry to see if it
\nhas diminished in economic importance over the years.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n<\/a>
\nActually, the number of farms in Lowndes County
\n
\nhas slightly increased in recent some recent years.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe VDT proceeded to do som research, asking Jake Price,
\nLowndes County Extension Agent, who noted there are actually
\nmore farms in Lowndes County than in some surrounding counties,
\nbecause they tended to be smaller here, with quite a few people
\nfarming on the side.
\nThat and agriculture-based events have become more popular,
\nsuch as last week’s Hog Show.
\n(And he didn’t mention the new last year Valdosta Farm Days.)
\nHe continued:\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\n\u201cThe number of kids in FFA and 4-H is also staying steady or
\nincreasing.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\nA look at the tax base of the counties in the South Georgia region
\nshow that agriculture and forestry comprise the overwhelming
\nmajority of taxable acreage, including in Lowndes.\n<\/p>\n

\nLooking at historic data and comparing 1991, 2001 and 2011, records
\nfrom the Georgia Department of Revenue show that while Lowndes
\nag\/forest acreage is down from 1991, when it was 90 percent of the
\ntotal, it is still 73 percent of the taxable acreage in the county.\n<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAgriculture is still big business in Lowndes. I’m also a
\nfarmer. I’ve been in farming since the early 1980s, and our farm
\nalone will do close to $10 million in sales this year,\u201d said
\nLowndes County Commission Chairman Ashley Paulk.\n<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAgriculture contributes to the economy quite a bit, and it’s
\na very big part of Lowndes County.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nHm, maybe the County Commission should take agriculture into account
\nmore when considering subdivision rezoning.
\nThey did actually do that for the proposed
\n
\nNottinghill subdivision on Cat Creek Road, tabling it.<\/a>
\n
\n<\/a>
\nThat happened after several neighbors, including
\n
\nCalvin Marshall<\/a>, spoke against it:<\/p>\n

\n

\n\u201cThere’s three or four generations of property owners in this
\nroom tonight. These people go back for three or four generations.
\nAnd these people have worked hard.\n<\/p>\n

\nThis has always been a farming community. We pay taxes, and we’re
\ntrying to continue to live.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Calvin Marshall again<\/a>,
\n
\nThomas E. Stalvey Jr.<\/a>,
\nGretchen<\/a>,
\nand
\n
\nme<\/a>
\nspoke against it, all at least partly on behalf of agriculture.\n<\/p>\n

\nI hear that Moody AFB also quietly lobbied against it.
\nMoody doesn’t want dense populations near where it’s flying jets.
\nMoody has a good safety record, but airplanes do crash.
\nAgriculture and forestry are Moody’s buffers against people and houses
\ncrowding their airspace.\n<\/p>\n

\nMore basically, why should recent one-time investments by developers
\nhave priority over long-term, often many-generations, investments
\nby farmers?
\n
\n<\/a>
\nFarmers, whose business is still
\n“one of the strongest private-sector industries in the county”.
\nHey, what if the County Commission and the Chamber and the Industrial
\nAuthority and the city governments promoted agriculture!
\nAgriculture is actually
\n
\nin VLCIA’s charter,<\/a>
\nand nothing stops the Chamber except
\n
\nit doesn’t like agriculture.<\/a>
\nEven more, what if they promoted farming
\n
\nthat doesn’t blanket everything in pesticides, using crop rotation instead<\/a>,
\nso Lowndes could be in the forefront of one of the fastest growing
\nindustries in the world?
\nValdosta Farm Days is already a start in that direction.
\nLet’s go further into farming!\n<\/p>\n

\n-jsq<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The VDT went out and did some research and discovered that agriculture is not only still here in Lowndes County, it’s one of the biggest industries here, and by some measures it’s increasing. What if the local elected and appointed and self-appointed boards and authorities helped promote agriculture as a local industry? Kay Harris wrote […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,202,14,16,70,266,321,740,8,2,19,1347,88,570,571,21,22,54,457,133,178,332],"tags":[8736,8750,8704,8706,8728,8756,8761,8801,8701,8699,8709,8702,8827,12,7,8734,8783,8784,8711,8712,6,8726,8769,8742,8749,8765],"class_list":["post-330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-agriculture","category-economy","category-environment","category-ethics","category-festivals","category-food-and-drink","category-forestry","category-georgia","category-government","category-history","category-lcc-12-july-2011","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-military","category-moody-afb","category-planning","category-politics","category-valdosta-city-council","category-valdosta-farm-days","category-vdt","category-vlcia","category-vlcoc","tag-activism","tag-agriculture","tag-economy","tag-environment","tag-ethics","tag-festivals","tag-food-and-drink","tag-forestry","tag-georgia","tag-government","tag-history","tag-lake","tag-lcc-12-july-2011","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lowndes-county-commission","tag-military","tag-moody-afb","tag-planning","tag-politics","tag-valdosta","tag-valdosta-city-council","tag-valdosta-farm-days","tag-vdt","tag-vlcia","tag-vlcoc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}