WATKINSVILLE, GA – Since the advent of time, farmers have relied heavily on their trusty knife as an important tool of the trade. From a tiny pocket knife to a custom blade it is pretty much with them at all times, but do they know the history behind that knife or the incredible effort it takes to forge one? Daniel Moye became a knife maker as the result of a horrendous car accident that nearly ended his life in 2009. A life that was spent mostly in the operating room as a prominent orthopedic surgeon in Watkinsville, Georgia. Unfortunately, the accident forced Dr. Moye to give up that life, but he still crafts every blade with the utmost care and precision of a surgeon. Watch his story below.
HIRAM, GA – It’s not a sight that you see every day – kids – outside, and actually enjoying being there, but at McGarity Elementary School, and also in schools all around the state, it’s becoming a common occurrence; all thanks to school gardens just like this one that have been popping up the past couple of years.
“Almost 2 years ago, McGarity went through a remodel,” says Stephanie Degenaar, school garden coordinator at McGarity Elementary. “First remodel we’ve had in 25 years, and this space here was industrial, it was large air conditioning units behind this awful looking fence in the middle of the playground, and I knew that the air conditioning units were going to be taken down, so I thought, well, let’s turn this industrial space into something that is good for the environment. I said, ‘let’s build a garden.’”
They have managed to transform that old industrial space into a beautiful school garden. Of course, this wouldn’t be possible without a lot of help and dedication from other teachers, parents, and even the community.
“With a large project, something like this, it takes a lot of people. It takes a lot of dedication, it takes a group of people that you know are willing to put in the work,” says Degenaar.
Another big help in the success of school gardens comes from UGA extension. They send master gardeners to the schools to help get the gardens established.
“We focus on sustainable gardening right now, and our school programs offer programs that show children what they can grow in their own backyards, what they can take home and eat, how to grow that, and how to bring it into the community,” says Kristine Huffman, Master Gardner with UGA Extension.
Other than teaching the kids where their food comes from, they can also serve another purpose. School gardens can be a great way for the school to meet education requirements called STEM once the school has been certified by the state.
Sarah Graham, Science and Health Curriculum Coordinator for Paulding County says, “STEM is science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and it’s all of those core contents combined. Kids will not just do science, they’ll not just use technology, they’re not just learning math, they’re learning everything in an integrated way in a project-based learning type environment.”
The projects are very popular. So popular, the garden has gotten to be so big, they have started to work in the garden all year long and have started two different programs to allow as many kids to be a part of the garden as possible. One of them even lets the parents to be a part of it.
“The children come out and work with the garden club teachers once a month with their designs and they come out and work on those days. We also have an earth parent program and they come out on other work days. We have four of those a year. They come out, they help us paint, they help us build,” says Degenaar.
As you can tell by the excitement in their faces, it’s an enjoyable time for the kids and for the parents. Degenaar says the work days are a big hit as it creates a calm environment for the families to be together.
“There’s a lot of excitement about it and a lot of enjoyment when they come out and work in the garden because they get to come out and be with their kids and they get to do something that’s very stress free,” says Degenaar. “Not just homework, not just going to a ballgame, coming and actually working together to create something beautiful and to also learn where food comes from.”
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced the government of Argentina has finalized technical requirements that will allow U.S. pork to be imported into Argentina for the first time since 1992.
Since the White House announced an agreement with Argentina last August, technical staff from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative have been working with Argentina’s Ministry of Agro-Industry on new terms for market access that are practical, science-based and consistent with relevant international animal health standards. The finalization of these technical requirements means that U.S. exports of pork and natural swine casings can now resume.
“This breakthrough is the result of efforts by this Administration to help America’s farmers and ranchers reach new markets and ensure fair trade practices by our international partners,” Perdue said. “Once the people of Argentina get a taste of American pork products after all this time, we’re sure they’ll want more of it. This is a great day for our agriculture community and an example of how the Trump Administration is committed to supporting our producers by opening new markets for their products.”
“I welcome Argentina’s decision to allow imports of U.S. pork products and the economic opportunity it will afford to U.S. pork producers,” said Lighthizer. “This effort demonstrates the Trump Administration’s continued commitment to address foreign trade barriers to American agriculture exports.”
The United States is the world’s top pork exporter, with global sales totaling $6.5 billion last year. Argentina is a potential $10-million-per-year market for America’s pork producers, with significant growth opportunities possible in subsequent years.
Doyle Floyd is one of the agriculture teachers at Bleckley County High School and has been teaching now for 31 years. He shares his love of teaching agriculture and what he is going to miss the most going into retirement. Here is his story.
DOUGLAS, GA – With the state of Georgia accounting for nearly half the nation’s peanut production, it’s important that each aspect of the industry work in harmony. Nothing exemplifies that more than the grower-owned operation Premium Peanut, which helps farmers with each step of the process.
“We are essentially a cooperative of over 350 farmers in 30 counties throughout Georgia, and we work with them to grow, harvest, and then shell peanuts,” says Karl Zimmer, President of Premium Peanuts. “We are the only shelling plant east of 75 and as peanut production and peanut growing has moved into southeast Georgia over the past 15 years, there really was a need logistically to have something close.”
This facility, which shells up to 900 tons of peanuts a day, helps save farmers time and money thanks to its convenient location right in the middle of peanut country.
“It’s extremely beneficial just from a logistical standpoint to minimize those freight costs getting the product out of the field at harvest into the buying points and from the buying points or the collection points into the shelling plant,” says Zimmer.
One of the major partners for this operation since its opening in 2015 has been SunTrust Bank, who provided both working capital and flexible financing. It’s the kind of partnership they believe is essential not just for agriculture, but to the future of the country.
“If you look at food and agriculture in the United States, it’s a significant part of our GDP and it’s a category that we are not likely to rely on a foreign source of supply. So, as we look at the next several decades, food and agriculture will be a significant part of the US domestic economy,” says Todd Southerland, Senior Vice President of SunTrust bank.
With that in mind, Premium Peanut recently expanded their operation, building a state of the art peanut oil facility, which creates more value to the product by using the entire supply.
“We are generating a lot of not edible peanuts. They’re part of the manufacturing process. I come from metals manufacturing. You need scrap there. Well, our scrap is peanuts that are too small, they’re broken, maybe they have damage to them, and we can’t sell them to the edible market. But you can absolutely crush them and produce peanut oil from them,” says Zimmer.
As for how the oil is produced, it’s really a simple process.
“You break them down into small pieces. You heat them up to release that oil. Then it’s a mechanical press, and it is really just using mechanical pressure to squeeze the oil out,” says Zimmer.
With the addition of a new operation comes an addition of new jobs as well, and with the peanut industry being so far reaching in the state, it’s not just the local community that sees the benefits from this expansion
“When you think about premium peanut, it’s had a huge impact on the greater Douglas community,” says Southerland. “It’s obviously having an impact on this particular business. It’s also helping light the way to financial well-being for hundreds of farmers that are members of the cooperative. So, indirectly, it touches literally hundreds of families in South Georgia.”
“We have over 200 employees,” says Zimmer. “So, I think that is clearly important to this county and for where we are locally. Our growers are in 30 counties throughout southern Georgia and we have 10 buying points spread out through the southern part of the state. So, I think when you look at our true economic impact to agriculture and to the peanut industry throughout the state of Georgia, it’s very significant.”
ATLANTA, GA – It was a packed house as around 500 people gathered for an America First Policies event as a few notable speakers were in attendance to talk about the success of the current administration. Georgia’s Governor Deal was there, along with the Director of the EPA, Scott Pruitt. Pruitt got the chance to speak and talked about the importance of deregulation and working together with American businesses. We got the chance to catch up with Pruitt after the event. He discussed the WOTUS rule and what else is next for the EPA.
“I think what we’ve got to do is finish these areas, these changes like the WOTUS rewrite, the president’s leadership on that to send that message to me to get that fixed that’s going to be done this year. The clean power plant is going away, the president’s exit from the Paris Accord sent a great message that America was going to be put first and so as we go into 2018, we’re going to continue to finish those rules to make sure Americans all over the country recognize that they’re our partners, that we can achieve good things together,” said Pruitt.
The guest of honor though was, of course, Vice President Pence. He spoke about a wide range of topics and afterward, we got the chance to speak in a one on one with him about some big issues in agriculture. The full interview can be seen below.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will make disaster payments of up to $2.36 billion, as provided by Congress, to help America’s farmers and ranchers recover from hurricanes and wildfires. The funds are available as part of the new 2017 Wildfires and Hurricanes Indemnity Program (2017 WHIP). Sign-up for the new program, authorized by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, will begin no later than July 16.
USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) will make these disaster payments to agricultural producers to offset losses from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and devastating wildfires. The 2017 calendar year was a historic year for natural disasters, and this investment is part of a broader suite of programs that USDA is delivering to rural America to aid recovery. In total, the Act provided more than $3 billion in disaster relief by creating new programs, and expediting or enhancing payments for producers.
“America’s farmers feed our nation and much of the world, and throughout history they have known good years and bad years. But when significant disasters strike, we are ready to step in and provide the assistance they need,” Secretary Perdue said. “USDA is working as quickly as possible to develop procedures and a system by which affected producers can access disaster assistance. For producers new to FSA programs, we encourage you to visit your local USDA service center now to establish farm records.”
About 2017 WHIP Disaster Payments
The new 2017 WHIP will provide significant disaster assistance and be guided by the following principles:
Eligibility will be limited to producers in counties that experienced hurricanes or wildfires designated as presidentially-declared disasters in 2017;
Compensation determined by a producer’s individual losses rather than an average of losses for a particular area (where data is available);
Producers who purchased higher levels of risk protection, such as crop insurance and noninsured crop disaster assistance program, will receive higher payments;
Advance payments up to 50 percent; and
A requirement that payment recipients obtain future risk protection.
During 2017, the U.S. experienced a historic year of weather-related disasters, with an economic impact totaling more than $300 billion. In total, the United States was impacted by 16 separate billion-dollar disaster events including: three tropical cyclones, eight severe storms, two inland floods, a crop freeze, drought and wildfire. More than 25 million people – almost eight percent of the population – were affected by major disasters.
More Information
FSA will distribute more information on how producers can file claims for WHIP disaster payments at a later date. For questions on how to establish farm records to be prepared when WHIP disaster signup begins, or to learn about other disaster assistance programs, producers are asked to contact their local USDA service center.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and Administrator Linda McMahon, the head of the Small Business Administration (SBA), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the SBA to promote stronger businesses and agricultural economies in rural America. The two signed the MOU in Lima, Ohio, where Secretary Perdue was joined by Administrator McMahon for a portion of Perdue’s third “Back to Our Roots” RV tour.
Under the newly-signed MOU, USDA and SBA will enhance collaboration and coordination in areas of mutual interest. Specifically, such collaboration is intended to improve investment opportunities in rural areas, identify ways to increase the benefits of the Tax Cuts and Job Act of 2017, improve innovation for rural technical assistance providers, and aid rural businesses in providing tools to export products around the world, among other goals.
“Most family farms operate as small businesses, so the collaboration of USDA and SBA makes all the sense in the world,” Secretary Perdue said. “Rural America and our small Main Street businesses must know that the Trump Administration aims to increase prosperity across all economic sectors. I’m grateful to be partnering with Administrator McMahon and SBA to best help farmers, ranchers, foresters, and small businesses in rural communities thrive.”
“As small business optimism continues to rise, it is important that we work to create a better economic environment for rural America to thrive,” Administrator McMahon said. “The USDA and SBA are teaming up to develop actions based on the complementary strengths of the two organizations to promote rural development. I look forward to working with Secretary Perdue to strengthen America’s many agricultural small businesses. Together, we are committed to keeping the President’s promise to rebuild our nation.”
DULUTH, GA – Robots, virtual reality, smart glasses. This is some of the technology being used today to make factories so efficient as manufacturing jobs have now become more advanced than ever. It’s a far cry from the setting many people have pictured.
Suzanne Lauda, Director of Global Advancement Technology with Duluth, Georgia-based AGCO says, “In the old days, manufacturing had a very bad reputation for being dark, dirty, dingy, and dangerous. That’s not the case anymore. If you see what we are doing here, you can do most everything by the push of a button.”
Maybe nothing exemplifies the technological advancements more than this portable smart robot, that can be taught a number of different responsibilities in a matter of moments.
Thomas Enghof, Director of Manufacturing Engineering with AGCO Fendt, says “I can give him tasks with the QR codes. The camera understands the QR codes and the programed tasks behind it. Therefore, I can bring him to any space I prepare for the COBOT and the COBOT will realize the difference and immediately start with the assigned work.”
This provides workers with a pair of extra hands to perform any menial task anywhere in the factory.
“It makes us more efficient because we can concentrate our human workforce to do the things where creative work is necessary, intuitive work and tangible work is necessary, and let the COBOTs do the rest,” says Enghof.
One of the staples for factory workers are safety glasses. However, these provide much more than safety, as they help organization and quality assurance.
“Wearable technologies mean eyewear. So, we have people that are wearing glasses for work. They have work instructions that they get preloaded onto the glasses or they have checklists for the quality inspection at the end of the line,” says Lauda.
VR and simulations have also become vitally important in making big decisions on how to design the work flow and training workers in a safe environment.
Gary Dsouza with Global Manufacturing Engineering says, “simulation helps us run scenarios ahead of time before we go in and do any physical changes in the line. It helps us evaluate different scenarios, different set ups in the line. For example, if I wanted to make my line bend this way, bend that way, go out the door, go back in, different layout, shapes, and forms, we can do that virtually before we start making any changes in the line. With the programing portion of it, it saves us a lot of time on having to manually program robots. So, that will definitely help there. From the virtual reality itself, it will help you get the workers familiar with what the new area is going to be like, so there’s definitely a training aspect to it.”
With the manufacturing of farming equipment being so efficient, companies are able to pass along the savings to the customers. However, those lower prices don’t mean companies are skimping on the quality.
“Farmers expect state of the art equipment with perfect quality. That requires a lot of up front planning because once the product is out of the door, it’s too late, you have to do that work before it hits the market,” says Lauda.
WAYNESBORO, GA – Born in Georgia, raised on a farm and the youngest of nine children, Clifford Jones remembers vividly the first time he laid eyes on a tractor. It was without a doubt, love at first sight.
“Four or five years of age, before I started school, a wealthy farmer across the road from us had the first tractor. He brought the first tractor in the community. Then my older brother was the first one, that I knew of, other than that gentleman that had a tractor. He bought a Model B on steel wheels in 1939, and of course, I drove the tractors right on up until I went off to war in 1950,” says Jones.
Elizabeth Jones, Clifford’s wife, says “he just has a fire burning inside of him, you know? Deep inside, and I see it quite a bit. I’ve seen it with the tractors, definitely.”
“Like I mentioned earlier, I was born and raised 35 miles from here, been here all my life. I’ve known Mr. Clifford for many, many years, coming to our auctions and never, never dreamed that this kind of collection was this close to me. Being in my business is what makes it even harder to believe. I’m in the tractor business, the tractor selling business, anyway. So, to find out there was 100-piece collection of antique tractors 35 miles from my home was pretty remarkable,” says Adam Lane from Lane Bothers Auction Company.
Mr. Clifford says he bought his first tractor in 1968 and in the years since, has traveled the country looking to add to his collection. Each tractor has a different story and each tractor has a special meaning. But, as he prepares to celebrate his 89th birthday, Mr. Clifford says, it is time. Time to let the next generation of collectors own parts or all of his collection and maybe someday share their story.
“I’d like for somebody to have them that appreciate them and enjoy having them as much as I have and take care of them and maybe after another 50 years, pass them on to somebody else,” says Jones.
“I mean, you’ve got back in the 30’s and all the way up into the 60’s and the tractors are all in excellent condition. When we were washing some of the tractors, we had to pull some outside and I asked, ‘Mr. Clifford, some of these tractors may have to spend the night outside.’ They had never spent the night outside. So, just the quality and you know, the extent of the collection and the fact that it’s pretty much everything from A to 830. There are Model A’s to the 830 Diesel, which is something you don’t see in Georgia,” says Lane.
“I was thinking some of these things I’ve had for more than 50 years and they become kind of like family members after a while. They’ll say, ‘which one would you want to keep or, which one do you like or, which one would you give up?’ My answer is that they’re all like children. ‘Which one of your children would you want to give up?’,” says Jones.
