State Ag Officials Look To Revoke Pest Company License

State agriculture officials are working to pull the license of a pest control company that treats more than 100 healthcare facilities in Georgia.

At issue is how the company, Biotech Systems of Georgia, applied the pesticide Termindor, says Jim Harron with the State Agriculture department:

"It's not a question of training in the case of Termidor, this material should not have been used indoors--period."

It's only an outdoor product, but Harron’s says his office found it in patient rooms and food areas in all eight of the first nursing homes tested in May.

Since then, officials found discrepancies in records the company sent to the state for review.

Now, with the help of state health care officials, Harron says work is being done to examine other nursing homes handled by Biotech:

"We'll work with the nursing homes in getting them proper cleanup procedures, and getting them advice on how they can clean them up."

Harron says the Georgia Agriculture Department is working towill revoke the company’s license.

State Seizes Dogs From North Georgia Kennel

State Agriculture officials have taken-in more than 130 dogs from a north Georgia kennel, citing unsanitary and unsafe conditions. The Atlanta Humane Society has accepted the dogs, and officials say most appear healthy and well-fed. The investigation of Richard’s Kennel near Cumming began after a customer complaint of a dog that had mange. Testing at the site however, revealed none of the kennel’s animals had the skin disease.

Georgia Equine Law Challenged

A federal lawsuit has targeted an obscure Georgia law that allows state officials to seize starving horses. To be heard in front of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today is the case of 46 horses seized from a southwest Georgia farm by state agriculture officials. Edna Reams says the horses were taken without due process, and she wants the federal court to overturn the law. The law being challenged is the Humane Care for Equines Act. Georgia’s Agriculture Department says it gets more than 1,200 complaints about horse abuse each year. Last year, about 300 ailing horses were taken-in.

Sweet tea, moonshine and wine

A worker picks grapes at Persimmon Creek Vineyards in Clayton, Ga., on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008. Persimmon Creek Vineyards is part of a rapidly expanding winery industry across the South, where lands once given over to tobacco now produce a more tourist-friendly crop. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

In the same mountains where generations of Georgians distilled corn into moonshine, the Hardman family is fermenting a libation of another flavor.

Along the banks of a babbling creek near Clayton are acres of twisting grape vines that will yield bottles of riesling, cabernet franc, sauvignon blanc and merlot.

The Hardmans' winery, Persimmon Creek Vineyards, is part of a rapidly expanding winery industry across the South, where lands once given over to tobacco now produce a more tourist-friendly crop.

"It's not something you can only grow in France and California," says Mary Ann Hardman, who runs the winery from her home on 100 acres of picturesque farmland. "I believe wine is the taste of a place."

And in the American South, the taste ranges from sweet, wet whites from the local scuppernong grapes (a muscadine variant) to Euro-style like chardonnays and merlots.

The Hardmans began producing wine six years ago on the cusp of an explosion in the region's viticulture industry, which has begun drawing tourists from across the globe to the rural South.

Today there are 433 wineries across the region, a nearly 50 percent increase from just three years ago, according to the National Association of American Wineries. That's almost four times as many wineries as 15 years ago.

The growth mirrors a national trend, with every state now boasting at least one winery _ even Alaska.

Southern vintners are particularly proud that their region finally has developed a foothold in the U.S. wine industry after years of connoisseurs looking down their noses at vintages from below the Mason-Dixon line.

Not that the stigma has completely vanished. But experts say the South is making a place for itself in the wine world.

"I have had some good Southern wine and some interesting Southern wine," says Lettie Teague, executive wine editor for Food & Wine magazine. "There is reason to look forward to the Southern wines of the future."

Southern wines tend to go the way of the region's tea _ incredibly sweet _ especially from scuppernong grapes.

"There is an exceptionally good sparkling scuppernong being made in southeast Georgia. There's a good chardonnay being made in North Carolina, as well," said John T. Edge, contributing editor at Gourmet magazine and head of the Southern Foodways Alliance at Ole Miss. "The diversity of topography and the diversity of grapes lends itself to the South emerging as a contender on the international stage."

Regional wine sales are tough to track because most Southern wineries are small and mostly sell directly to customers.

Tourism has played a key role in the boom. As at wineries in California, tasting rooms welcoming visitors are common. Some wineries even have built rental cottages for travelers wishing to rest among the vines.

The South was a leader in the U.S. wine industry during the early part of the 20th century, but Prohibition devastated the nation's industry. While other parts of the country bounced back, recovery has been slower in the South.

For decades after prohibition, farmers in the heart of the Bible Belt shied away from wine grapes. But modern vintners have discovered the cool weather in southern mountain towns is ideal for many varieties.

They've also needed to find new uses for land once dominated by tobacco.

"The industry we've been depending on in the South is no longer here," says Kim Myers, president of the North Carolina Winegrowers Association and owner of Laurel Gray Vineyards in Hamptonville, N.C. "People are looking for alternative things to do with farm land."

California remains the country's largest wine producer, with 2,600 wineries. North Carolina has just 91 wineries, but that's up from just 54 three years ago. Virginia went from 122 to 169 in that time.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of Georgia agriculture.

(AP)

Georgia agriculture commissioner says gas pump inspectors are short staffed

The state budget crunch is hitting those folks who inspect the gas pumps across Georgia.

Complaints against gas stations who are allegedly shorting customers typically go up along with the gas prices.

There were more than 1100 complaints last year.

And that's consuming the time of the Georgia Department of Agriculture's inspectors, who officials say are already short-staffed.

That's taking time away from routine inspections, which can prevent or identify problems with the pumps, says Tommy Irvin, the state agriculture commissioner. And problems with the pumps can result in discrepancies between the price and the amount of gas coming from the pump.

"We're understaffed to the point that I don't think we're able to give the people what they want," says Irvin. "What we're faced with when you give 80 percent time allotted for your employees for checking complaints, you have 20 percent of your time left to do routine inspections. That's not as frequent as it needs to be."

But there's a hiring freeze for state employees. And Governor Sonny Perdue and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle are calling for possible budget cuts this year ranging from 3.5 percent to ten percent.

The agriculture department has a hotline for people suspecting a problem with a gas pump. That number is (404) 656-3605.

State jalapenos tested--update

State agriculture officials hope to declare Georgia-grown jalapenos safe to eat when the results of testing come back soon, possibly by Friday afternoon. Jalapeno-samples have been collected from farms across Georgia over the past week.

Federal investigators recently discovered a strain of salmonella on a single pepper from a Texas distributor. That prompted a nationwide warning to avoid buying or eating raw jalapeno or Serrano peppers.

State Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin is not happy with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and its approach to the warning and recall:

"That killed the market...that was overkill. One sample for the whole two nations--Mexico and the U.S--that’s ridiculous. ...we’ve got to get them to understand that when they(FDA)speak they need to have some validity about what they’re saying, but don’t overkill. (It's not good)for the consumer, and makes no market for the farmer".

Irvin says he doesn’t want Georgia’s jalapeno market to suffer like the tomato-market did, when the salmonella outbreak hit several weeks ago and sickened over 1,200 people in 43 states.

Irvin says test results on Georgia jalapenos could come-in as early as tomorrow afternoon, latest by Monday.