Major buyer quits Georgia tobacco

In an industry slowly fading in Georgia, tobacco growers got a recent kick in the pants when their major purchaser announced it would no longer buy from them.

At a meeting in Alma, Ga., Oct. 14, Philip Morris USA announced to more than 75 growers that it would honor the three- and five-year contracts it still has with growers, as long as they meet the contracts’ requirements. But it will not give new contracts, said J. Michael Moore, tobacco specialist with University of Georgia Cooperative Extension.

The company will stop buying from Florida growers, too, essentially ending its business in the two states.

“This was no doubt a major blow. Not only to participating growers, but also to south Georgia’s economy,” said Moore, who attended the meeting.

In 1996, Georgia’s tobacco crop was worth $206 million. Last year, it was worth $57 million.

The company buys roughly half of Georgia’s crop, Moore said. The announcement affects half of the 200 to 225 tobacco growers left in the state.

Growers and industry leaders are currently trying to get the remaining three companies still buying in Georgia to buy more or persuade new companies to do business in the state, Moore said.

“We hope this is something we can overcome,” he said.

But it’s going to be a challenge.

With higher federal taxes on U.S. cigarette consumption and the Federal Drug Administration’s newfound regulatory sway over the product, companies aren’t looking to carry a big inventory of tobacco. It’s estimated that some have enough low-quality tobacco now to last them for the next decade, Moore said.

The number of tobacco growers continues to decline in Georgia. There were around 350 two years ago. In 2004, there were 1,000.

That same year, the federal government ended its Depression-era tobacco quota program at the growers' request. It provided price support but restricted how much they could grow and where. Growers and quota owners were compensated for the end of the program. They now can grow as much tobacco as they feel they need to fill contracts.

Filling those contracts was a challenge this year in Georgia, where disease and wet, stormy weather hit springtime planting and summer harvest hard. Of the 15,000 acres planted, Moore said, 1,700 acres or more were lost.

According to the Georgia Agricultural Statistics Service, Georgia’s average yield this year is 1,500 pounds per acre, or 600 pounds per acre less than last year. This is the lowest average yield ever recorded in the state.

The decision to grow tobacco in Georgia has become harder and harder for growers to make in recent years, Moore said. Many have sold their tobacco-related equipment, which can’t be used for any other crop.

Canadian growers are looking to get back into the tobacco business, calling down their interest to buy good equipment. If a Georgia grower is too uncertain about next year’s crop, he said, they may want to think about selling equipment while they can get a good price for it.

By Brad Haire
University of Georgia

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Blueberry Grant Focuses Research on Significant Georgia Fruit

Blueberries are becoming big business in Georgia. University of Georgia experts plan to use a $1.7 million U.S. Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Research Initiative grant to lead an effort to make the Southeast the leading producer of the fruit.

The U.S. has 75,000 acres of cultivated blueberries. A third of that is grown in the South. The region is on track to become the hub of U.S. blueberry production within the next five years, said Harald Scherm, a plant pathologist with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

A spring freeze severely damaged Georgia’s blueberry crop in 2007. But the 2006 crop was worth $75.8 million. The berry has the potential to add millions of dollars more to rural economies, said Gerard Krewer, a UGA Cooperative Extension fruit crop horticulturalist.

“Blueberries are grown in rural areas, areas that really need economic boosting,” Krewer said. “Blueberries are becoming a major horticultural commodity in southeast Georgia.”

Scherm will lead a team that includes Krewer and CAES horticulturists Dan MacLean and Anish Malladi, plant pathologist Phil Brannen, food scientist Rob Shewfelt and engineer Changying Li. The team will collaborate with colleagues in Florida, North Carolina, West Virginia and Mississippi.

The grant will be used to develop a way to harvest the berries mechanically while not damaging or dropping a majority of the fruit. The research team will also use the grant funds to genetically improve fruit quality and to fight diseases that are just starting to plague blueberry bushes.

Georgia producers predominately grow two types of blueberries – rabbiteye and southern highbush.

Rabbiteye – the variety traditionally grown in Georgia – has a thicker skin and is generally harvested in June and July. The development of the southern highbush variety allows growers to start harvesting blueberries in April and May, a period when berries are in short supply and prices are much higher.

But with the extra profits came new problems. The southern highbush has thin skin and bruises easily. Because of this, most are currently harvested by hand. Competition for farm workers and tighter immigration restrictions could cause the cost of harvesting to skyrocket for the crop in coming years. Hand-harvesting now cost farmers as much as 70 cents per pound.

Farmers now need machines that better harvest their crop. Current harvesting machinery drops too many blueberries – as much as 25 percent of the crop and can bruise delicate berries. Damaged berries are only good for the frozen market, and producers get much lower prices for frozen berries than they do for fresh.

Besides coming up with a better harvesting method, another way to deal with the thin skins of southern highbush is to breed new varieties with thicker skins, or with a crispy flesh.

Crispy flesh varieties are currently being developed by university breeding programs in Florida, North Carolina and Georgia. After narrowing down the varieties, UGA food scientists will use taste panels to determine which type of new southern highbush blueberry consumers would most likely buy.

“With so much blueberry acreage going in the last few years, there’s not been enough new plants to go around,” Scherm said.

New plants are propagated through cuttings, and he thinks this may help spread debilitating diseases not seen before. These diseases include blueberry red ringspot virus, bacterial leaf scorch and Botryosphaeria stem blight. Leaf scorch and stem blight have killed many southern highbush blueberry plantings in recent years.

Bacterial leaf scorch was first documented in 2006. Very little is known about how to control it. Scherm hopes to find answers to these questions primarily by studying disease epidemiology, transmission modes and cultivar resistance.

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New Trauma Center Locator Map Shows If Georgia Counties Are Within the “Golden Hour”

A new interactive trauma center locator map shows whether you, your family and your friends can get to a Georgia trauma center within the “golden hour.”

A trauma patient's chances of survival increase dramatically if he or she receives care within the "golden hour" immediately following injury. Rapid response by emergency medical technicians in ground and air ambulances is critical. So is the distance to the nearest trauma center - a special hospital facility with the resources and medical specialists to handle the most severe injuries.

The trauma center locator map, which is part of the http://www.georgiaitsabouttime.com/ trauma awareness Web site, shows how far each county is from the nearest Georgia trauma center. You simply click on a county to see if it is within an hour of a trauma center.

The map shows that all or parts of more than 50 counties in South Georgia are not within the golden hour.

The golden hour is defined as within 50 miles of a trauma center. Distances are estimates and do not account for traffic delays.

Georgia is served by only 15 trauma centers – about half the number needed, according to state health officials – and many areas of the state currently lack access to adequate emergency transportation. As a result, trauma death rates are significantly higher than the national average. If Georgia’s death rate improved to the national average, it would mean a difference of as many as 700 more lives saved every year.

The trauma center locator map is part of the Georgia It’s About Time trauma awareness campaign which is funded through a grant from Healthcare Georgia Foundation. The campaign is aimed at helping to establish a statewide trauma system that will serve all Georgians, including many in rural areas of the state that are currently lacking access to adequate emergency transportation and trauma care.

About the Trauma Awareness Campaign and the Georgia Statewide Trauma Action Team
(GSTAT): The trauma awareness campaign is designed to educate Georgians about the need for a statewide trauma system. It is funded through a grant by Healthcare Georgia Foundation (www.healthcaregeorgia.org.) The Georgia Statewide Trauma Action Team (GSTAT) is a coalition of hospitals, EMS providers, physicians, nurses, local government officials, business leaders and others interested in creating a statewide trauma system. For more information, please visit www.georgiaitsabouttime.com.
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VSU Nursing Receives $24,000 Grant

Valdosta State University's College of Nursing was recently named the recipient of a $24,000 grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration.

The grant will be used to aid graduate students enrolled in advanced practice nursing coursework. Recipients of this funding will specialize in advanced nursing of adults, advanced maternal/child nursing, and psychiatric/mental health nursing.

The amount is approximately double what was previously received, due to an increase in the number of students enrolled as well as the addition of the adult health practitioner master's program, which was reinstated in early 2008. Programs like this are designed to meet health care workforce needs of rural South Georgia, and VSU nursing graduates fill a void as nursing educators, clinical leaders and health care administrators in various programs, institutions and agencies across rural and underserved South Georgia and North Florida.

“Our ability to meet the challenges of increasing the nursing workforce in the state of Georgia is contingent on this type of funding,” said Dr. Anita Hufft, dean of the College of Nursing. “This funding directly supports nurses pursuing advanced nursing degrees which will allow them to provide leadership in acute settings; to provide direct primary care services to underserved populations in south Georgia, and to assist as clinical faculty for our undergraduate programs.”

The mission of the faculty of the VSU College of Nursing is to improve the healthcare of the region through the preparation of a professional nursing workforce characterized by enthusiasm, skill, knowledge and honor. The College of Nursing is located in S. Walter Martin Hall at 1300 North Patterson Street in Valdosta, Georgia. For more information, call (229) 333-5959 or visit www.valdosta.edu/nursing .

Valdosta State Receives Major Gift from South Georgia Medical Center

South Georgia Medical Center announced July 19 a $1 million investment to address its largest category of staff vacancies -- nursing. The pledge, designated to the Valdosta State University Health Sciences and Business Administration facility, will be used to facilitate the development of an expanded program of nursing and allied health sciences in Valdosta.

Approximately four years ago, SGMC CEO James McGahee and VSU President Ronald Zaccari began meeting to discuss partnership opportunities to advance educational programs at Valdosta State for a variety of health occupations. Working with the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, a proposal to build a Health Sciences and Business Administration facility at VSU’s Rea and Lillian Steele North Campus evolved.

According to McGahee, SGMC is very concerned about the nursing shortage that is facing the healthcare industry. He said, “Like so many hospitals around our state and nation, South Georgia Medical Center struggles with a nursing shortage. On any given day, we have between 75 and 100 nursing vacancies throughout our organization. When you couple this shortage with an aging population and increasing hospital utilization, you quickly realize that we are outpacing our resources. SGMC is stepping up to the plate to proactively invest in the establishment of a world-class, health sciences training program at VSU.”

While SGMC helped fund VSU’s Second Degree program and offers nursing scholarships and other incentives for students in health-related fields, McGahee feels more had to be done. “Our goal is to expand opportunities and graduate record numbers of students. Since SGMC will provide clinical training for these students, we hope they will become familiar with our people, practices and procedures and want to work here when they graduate,” McGahee said.

According to Dr. Zaccari, the construction of the Health Sciences and Business Administration facility establishes a partnership with South Georgia Medical Center and the region’s medical community that represents a tremendous economic impact on South Georgia. Additionally, it provides the needed facilities to increase educational opportunities within various health-related and business areas of study. The north campus project will include an additional $30 million in residence halls, dining facilities, and related infrastructure that will bring the total cost to approximately $75 million.

“The new Health Sciences and Business Administration facility, planned strategically on the university’s north campus and directly across from South Georgia Medical Center’s own visionary and emerging facilities, will provide many opportunities for collaboration and new educational and clinical experiences,” Zaccari said. “Our vision is to attract outstanding scholars, teachers and researchers to Valdosta State University, and in turn open new partnerships with physicians, hospital administrators and multiple use facilities. It is an important and crucial time in our region’s history to chart a new course of action - an intense action plan that serves as a catalyst for combining scarce and valuable resources and accomplishing projects never before imagined.”

The VSU Health Sciences and Business Administration facility is quickly moving up the University System of Georgia’s capital projects list and construction should begin within the next three years. The approximately $46 million facility will represent one of the most significant advances in VSU’s history, and directly responds to the state of Georgia’s critical need for more healthcare professionals.