Page 1 - 040820-Market-Bulletin

EstablishEd 1917 a CEntury of sErviCE

GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE • GARY W. BLACK, COMMISSIONER • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2020 • VOL. 103, NO. 8 • © COPYRIGHT 2020
Finding a new normal

Food distributors seek ways to help others and themselves through COVID-19 response

By Amy Carter ing for creative ways to move product to non-traditional customers,”
100th Anniversary
1917 – 2017
amy.carter@agr.georgia.gov said Paul Thompson, deputy director of the Georgia Department of
You either sell it or smell it in the produce business. Agriculture’s Marketing Division.
Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, a diversified customer base
That was a favorite saying of the late Gene Sutherland, whose was thought to be enough to help most businesses weather economic
children and grandchildren are motivated by those words to find al- downturns, “but all of our customers are being hit basically at the
ternate channels for tons of fresh fruits and vegetables left unclaimed same time with the same sort of problem,” Wilson said.
on the shelves of their fourth-generation foodservice business by the Schools and colleges have been dismissed, and restaurants have
global outbreak of COVID-19. been ordered to close their dining rooms and serve only take-out or
“Most of our customers, a lot of them are government entities – curbside meals. Grocery stores are selling out of staples, and while
schools especially, lower and higher education. We also have some supply is plentiful, the supply chain is struggling to keep up with
health care, lots of restaurants, and we have chain stories,” said Bon- demand. Sutherland’s is opening its inventory to the public for bulk
nie Sutherland Wilson, vice president and chief financial officer of purchases of food like ground beef and chicken, as well as more elu-
Sutherland’s Foodservice based at the Atlanta State Farmers Market sive products like toilet tissue, paper towels and disinfectant wipes.
in Forest Park. Families, churches, neighborhoods and businesses have respond-
Atlanta’s 150-acre terminal market serves as a collection point ed to the company’s social media postings, splitting up the packages
for produce and other agricultural commodities grown regionally, amongst themselves and friends and neighbors in need.
nationally and worldwide, which is then distributed throughout the Another market tenant, the Nickey Gregory Company, was able to
Southeast. As such, the market is home to several businesses like use its inventory and delivery trucks to help grocery stores fill gaps
Athena Farms, a produce distributor based at the Atlanta
State Farmers Market, has delivered more than 800 relief Sutherland’s that are struggling to survive despite being engaged in caused by panic-buying. This was a fairly quick flip for the company
boxes packed with unsold fruits, vegetables and other one of the most essential enterprises of all: moving food from farm after its primary business as a wholesale distributor of fresh produce
perishable products to restaurants in Atlanta to help food to fork. to food service companies and other wholesalers slowed.
service staff laid off due to COVID-19. (Athena Farms photo “Our vendors who serve the food service industry – hotel, restau- Andrew Scott, director of business development and marketing,
via Facebook) rant, etc. – have been greatly impacted by this situation and are look- See NEW NORMAL, page 16
Georgia growers brace for economic side effects of COVID-19 global outbreak

By Jay Jones Many farms in Georgia depend have already been vetted, and the
jay.jones@agr.georgia.gov on temporary workers from other Department of State is relaxing re-
countries, who are granted entry quirements for workers who have
Georgia agricultural producers are work- on a temporary work visa known been here before,” Hall said.
ing to keep their food supply chains running as an H-2A, and the outbreak has “Some of the work contracts
efficiently and safely this spring as they deal caused a lot of concern about get- are starting right now. Of course,
with disruptions caused by the Coronavirus ting them across the border and the ship date for Vidalia onions is
outbreak. into the fields. April 16, so Vidalia will need their
“As we go into the harvest sea- workers fairly quickly,” Hall add-
Fruits and Vegetables son, we just need more and more ed. “Certainly, (soon), you’ll see a
A labor shortage for harvesting is the labor coming in,” Hall said. He ex- lot of workers come in so that they
biggest concern for farmers, according to plained the visa process has slowed can ship out by the 16th.”
Charles Hall, executive director of the Geor- due to U.S. consulates being un- The demand for produce is high
gia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association. derstaffed or reduced to limit the in stores, as most people eat at
spread of the virus. home. However, Hall said the pro-
Hall commended Georgia Agri- duce market is split almost evenly
culture Commissioner Gary Black between retail grocery stores and
for working with the Trump Ad- the food service industry. The un-
ministration to find a solution. One Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black set April 16th as the pack date certainty for growers is the possi-
measure that should help is relax- for Vidalia onions. Sixty registered growers in 20 Georgia counties planted bility of surplus supply and its ef-
ing an interview requirement for 9,400 acres of Vidalia onions for the 2020 season. (Vidalia Onion Committee) fect on prices.
incoming workers who have been “If food service is not taking
in the United States in the past two years. the same workers coming back to their farm their part of the market, where is that prod-
“Most growers will get 70 to 75 percent of year after year after year, so a lot of these guys See GEORGIA GROWERS, page 14
Complaints of pesticide drift are on the decline

UPW training program educates growers to eliminate problems
Please deliver this paid subscription to: Published by the Ga. Department of Agriculture Gary W. Black, Commissioner jay.jones@agr.georgia.gov state. He said the training has been particular- pesticides while UGA Extension adminis-
By Jay Jones
eral types of pesticides that are used across the anyone who seeks certification to apply crop
ly successful in reducing drift from dicamba ters the training. Applicators who go through
Complaints of pesticide drift in Georgia applications, which is used on cotton to fight UPW training learn best practices for using
dropped 75 percent in six years since the weeds.
pesticides such as dicamba and 2,4-D herbi-
“Using Pesticides Wisely” training program
“We use a lot of these products here in cides on crops.
According to the UGA Extension Service,
began. State regulators and the University of Georgia on our cotton crops, well over a mil-
lion acres, and I just have to feel like this has agents recorded 289 drift complaints in 2014
Georgia Extension Service both cite the train-
across 48 counties. Complaints dropped to
ing as the primary reason for the reduction in been the difference maker,” Gray said.
150 in 2015, the first year of UPW training.
UPW training and certification is a part-
complaints.
Tommy Gray, director of the Georgia De-
nership between the GDA and University of Drift complaints have since dropped steadily
partment of Agriculture’s Plant Industry Divi-
Georgia Cooperative Extension Service that in each of the following years. In 2019, Exten-
See PESTICIDES, page 16
began in 2015. GDA requires the training for
sion, explained that UPW training covers sev-