Farmers Fight for Survival

Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Tifton, Georgia

478-227-7126 ~ www.tiftongrapevine.com

GEORGIA PRODUCE FARMERS FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

Fruit and vegetable farmers in Georgia and throughout the Southeast are fighting for their “very survival” because of a flood of imported produce from Mexico and from what farmers call unfair trade practices.

In response, the federal government says it is creating an “inter-agency working group” to review the trade practices and monitor the situation, coordinate responses and provide “technical assistance” to Congress in “developing legislation on this issue."

A “Report on Seasonal and Perishable Production in U.S. Commerce,” issued last week by the Department of Commerce, the U.S. trade representative’s office and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was in response to a federal hearing in August during which officials and farmers from Georgia and Florida testified that Mexican trade policies are killing U.S. farmers.

Bill Brim, co-owner and CEO of Lewis Taylor Farms in Tifton, testified that “despite our 71‐year history, and despite the support of our dedicated employees, our future is in serious jeopardy. Quickly rising imports, primarily from Mexico, are on the verge of putting us out of business. … We are barely holding on today.”

Brim produces a variety of fruits and vegetables on 6,500 acres. He told the Tifton Grapevine on Tuesday that, “We here in the Southeast are harder hit by the influence of product being sent in and (other countries) dumping product … when we are in season.”

Georgia’s produce farmers had hoped for additional trade remedies in the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) forged late last year, but no new protections for produce were included.

Before the USMCA was finalized, the University of Georgia issued a report noting that the agreement could “cause extensive economic damage to Georgia” and its fresh produce industry.

“While the deal may be an overall positive for the United States, it exposes U.S. fruit and vegetable growers to a high risk of substantial harm through unfair competition from Mexican imports,” the UGA report said, noting the potential for “catastrophic damage” to Georgia growers, including annual economic losses of nearly $900 million.

According to the federal government’s inter-agency report last week, “In 1993, the United States imported approximately $1.2 billion of fresh fruits and vegetables from Mexico. By 2019, imports had increased 1,025 percent to $13.5 billion.”

Congressman Austin Scott, R-Tifton, in a recent statement, said that "For too long, countries like Mexico have taken advantage of loopholes in our trade agreements and flooded our domestic markets with cheap, government-subsidized produce at prices below the cost of production, causing serious financial injury to American growers.”

Government action isn't enough, Scott said, calling on American retailers to help.

"America's grocery retailers are posting record profits while American farm revenues are at record lows. Retailers have the responsibility to stop stocking products from countries that engage in unfair trade practices against the American farm family.”

Agriculture is Georgia’s largest industry and has a total economic impact of approximately $76 billion.

BARBELL

MAGNATE

TIFTON NATIVE

WAS ‘FATHER

OF WORLD

WEIGHTLIFTING'

Tifton native Bob Hoffman in an undated photo at his York Barbell Co.

HOFFMAN SAID TO HAVE 'TRANSFORMED AMERICAN FITNESS'

He was born and grew up in Tifton.

He was a decorated World War I veteran.

He discovered weightlifting in 1923 and soon built his own equipment.

He started a company manufacturing barbells which still operates today.

He published what became the most influential weightlifting magazine in the United States.

He sold health supplements in the 1930s and is considered a "pioneer of protein" for health fitness.

He coached athletes and took U.S. weightlifting teams to the Olympics, winning numerous gold medals.

He promoted women's weightlifting when few took it seriously.

He convinced colleges and professional sports teams to incorporate weightlifting for its athletes.

He popularized and normalized weightlifting in gymnasiums and in homes, becoming the acknowledged "Father of World Weightlifting."

He was Bob Hoffman.

Read his story at BarBend.com, the official media partner of USA Weightlifting, by Clicking Here.

– Frank Sayles Jr.

2-YEAR-OLD KILLED BY

GUNSHOT IN TIFTON HOME

A two-year-old was struck in the head and died when a firearm discharged inside a Tifton home on Thursday, Sept. 3, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Tuesday.

The Tift County Sheriff’s Office had responded to a report of a child not breathing at 1706 Mosley Ave. in Tifton. Deputies found two-year-old Mirakle Brown unresponsive, who was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Preliminary information indicates that Mirakle and a six-year-old child were in a bedroom alone when a firearm was discharged, striking Mirakle in the head, the GBI said.

Mirakle was transported to the GBI Crime Lab; autopsy results are pending.

Anyone with information related to the matter may call the Tift County Sheriff’s Office at 229-388-6020 or the GBI’s Regional Office in Sylvester at 229-777-2080.

UGA Tifton's Veterinary Diagnostic and Investigational Lab team, from left, Lisa Whittington, Dr. Hemant Naikare, Dr. Allen Kalantari, SarahBeth Benson, and Dr. Yung-Yi Mosley; and, at right, Dr. Jessica Beier, medical director of Southwell Laboratories and of the hospital system's quality and patient safety.

SOUTHWELL PARTNERS WITH UGA TIFTON VETERINARY LAB FOR COVID-19 TESTING

In March, while the Tifton area was getting hit hard with COVID-19 cases, Dr. Jessica Beier, medical director of Southwell Laboratories and of quality and patient safety, was quarantined at home after returning from a vacation in Chile.

“While I was gone, we had used the CDC lab, the state lab, our usual reference lab, and all those labs were becoming overwhelmed. Their turnaround times were starting to increase, and we were looking at people potentially having to wait a week to know whether they had tested positive for COVID-19," she said.

“I was quarantined at home, and it was really not a good time. I brought my microscope and started doing pathology from home. In the midst of all of this, I had a lot of time on my hands to think, and because I have a horse farm, I am well aware that we have a vet diagnostic lab here in Tifton that’s part of UGA. I also know that this lab here does high complexity molecular diagnostic testing because of all of the infectious disease testing they normally do on animals.”

Something clicked in Beier’s head. Why not partner with UGA and the lab that was right in her own backyard to meet the pandemic head on? Although she had no contacts with anyone at the diagnostic lab, she was able to find the email address for Dr. Hemant Naikare, Tifton Veterinary Diagnostic and Investigational Lab (TVDIL) director and associate professor of infectious diseases in the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine.

“I remember Dr. Beier reaching out to me on a Saturday at the end of March,” Naikare said. “She wanted to know if we could assist with COVID testing, so we started correspondence the first week of April. I told her that we had the infrastructure, and we do polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, which is an essential component of processing COVID-19 tests. I explained to her that we could help, but our major hurdle was CLIA.”

CLIA stands for Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, and for labs to process human samples, they must be registered and certified under CLIA.

One aspect of the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) and TVDIL’s mission is service to the state. Usually, that means aiding local livestock producers, veterinarians, or companion animal owners in South Georgia— but the pandemic provided a unique situation.

“I knew that these long turnaround times were a huge problem, especially here in rural Georgia, so I took this issue to my department head, Dr. Jesse Hostetter, and CVM Dean Lisa Nolan,” said Naikare. “Dr. Beier and Southwell were in need of support, and it was clear to me that we could help. I explained that we had the equipment needed for human testing, and we had the trained personnel. It was just a matter of getting started. With the permission and the right credentials, we could definitely help out.”

The TVDIL is able to run an average of about 125 COVID-19 tests per day, many of which are sent over from Southwell’s drive-thru testing site, and these are processed usually within 24 hours. Most inpatients at Tift Regional Medical Center who need to be tested use a rapid test that is processed through the in-house laboratory there.

“We can run up to 270 tests per day without impacting our mission of animal testing. Just within the last four weeks, the TVDIL has conducted over 3,000 tests for hospitalized patients, pre-surgical patients, symptomatic patients, potentially exposed individuals, and patients and staff from various healthcare settings,” Naikare said.

COVID CLAIMS NORTHSIDE BAPTIST PASTOR

By FRANK SAYLES JR.

Tifton Grapevine

The Tifton community is saddened this week by the sudden death of Dr. Fred M. Evers, 64, longtime pastor of Northside Baptist Church.

Although he had been battling esophageal cancer for about 16 months and recently weathered a bout of pnuemonia, Evers appeared to be on the mend in recent weeks when he then tested positive for COVID-19.

As his wife, Cindy, posted on social media, Evers’ body could not withstand the blow of COVID after all it had been through. He passed on Monday, Sept. 7, at Tift Regional Medical Center with Cindy at his side.

A native of Jacksonville, Fla., Evers was a graduate of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and The Criswell College in Dallas, Texas. He came to Northside Baptist in 1999.

He leaves behind his wife, three married children, eight grandchildren, his congregation and the many lives he touched along the way.

A brief interaction with Evers a few years ago stands out in this reporter's memory. I had left my job after a dozen years at what was then the local daily newspaper. Running into me in a grocery parking lot, Evers put his hand on my shoulder, looked me in the eye and asked how I was doing. It wasn't the casual question that one often hears; he really wanted to know how I was doing. At the time I was contemplating my next career move. His authentic concern touched me.

There are many people in our community and beyond who have experienced such small, personal moments with Fred Evers.

The funeral will be at 6 p.m. Friday at Northside Baptist Church.

SUSAN McBRAYER JOINS SBDC TEAM

Susan Paz McBrayer has joined the University of Georgia's Small Business Development Center (SBDC) as a business consultant in the Albany office.

McBrayer has 22 years of banking experience and most recently was a branch manager for Ameris Bank in Tifton. She is a first-generation Cuban-American who is bilingual in Spanish and English.

She was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Fla., and 13 years ago moved to her husband’s hometown of Tifton. They have been married for 24 years and have three children.

McBrayer serves as treasurer of the Tifton Merchants Association, the United Way of South Central Georgia and the Alzheimer’s Walk Committee for Tifton. She has been active with the Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce.

NURSING STUDENTS SET ABAC RECORD

More students are enrolled in nursing classes this semester at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College that at any other time in the 54-year history of the program, officials say.

“The reputation of the ABAC nursing program has never been higher,” said President David Bridges. “ABAC turns out quality graduates who are much sought after in an industry that looks for more nurses every day.”

Registrar Amy Willis said 326 students are enrolled in associate-degree nursing classes at ABAC Tifton and ABAC Bainbridge. That tops the 304 students enrolled in classes at the two locations in 2019.

A total of 895 ABAC students are pursuing nursing degrees, many of them taking core curriculum classes to prepare for the nursing program. Fifty-nine of those students are enrolled in the nursing bachelor’s degree program.

TIFTON GRAPEVINE'S CAT OF THE WEEK

This feline is among the pets available for adoption at the Tift County Animal Shelter. Visit the Animal Shelter from 1-6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, or call 229-382-PETS (7387).

Pets of the Week are sponsored by:

Branch's Veterinary Clinic

205 Belmont Ave., Tifton, 229-382-6055

CITY IMPOSES QUARANTINE FOR YELLOW FEVER

– SEPT. 8, 1905

On Sept. 8, 1905, a quarantine was ordered in Tifton for those infected with yellow fever. Also, "all persons who may attempt to enter and remain in the city who have been exposed to yellow fever within 10 days of their arrival" must be quarantined, according to dispatches at the time.