May 21, 2013

Rainfall, unseasonably cool highs help sustain drought recovery

The South Carolina Climatology Office’s online map shows the entire state in a welcome shade of green, meaning that the entire state is free from drought.

On April 24, the State Drought Response Committee for the first time in three years declared the entire state drought-free. State Climatologist Hope Mizzell says the rainfall over the first few days of May accompanied by the unseasonably cool temperatures have helped the state recover from the drought conditions of the past few years.

“I know many people didn’t enjoy the rainy weekend, but we still needed the rain to complete recharge our lakes, our ground water before we head into the summer months.” Mizzell said the rainfall over the past few days has been significant in many areas of the state. “Since the drought was downgraded on April 24, we have numerous sites that have received over three inches (of rain), and a few sites that have received as much as nine inches just since April 24.”

Mizzell says significant rainfall has occurred over the past week in one of the areas that was hit hardest by drought conditions over the past few years, the Upstate.

“Taylors had 9.15 inches of rain since April 24. A lot of these areas were in northern Greenville and northern Spartanburg county. One of the areas we are continuing to keep a close eye on is the Upper Savannah River Basin because while out of drought, those lakes have not completely recovered.”

Mizzell says unseasonably cool highs in the first few days of May are also helping recharge the groundwater and lake and stream levels.

“The minimum temperatures have not actually been that far off from normal, but it’s just those afternoon highs that have been so unspeakably cool and those have been some of the coldest (on record) based on maximum temperatures (for early May).”

Labor Department finds migrant worker violations at 2 SC farms

Two South Carolina farms and a  labor contractor have been penalized by the U.S. Labor Department for their treatment of migrant workers, under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division’s investigative teams reported that J. Robert Griggs Farms of Hartsville failed to meet minimum housing, health and safety conditions, including a lack of working bathroom facilities and hot water. The department has fined the farm $15,225 in civil money penalties.

Farm contractor Fisteac failed to pay employees the required minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Fisteac has agreed to pay 33 employees $9,388 in back wages. The department has added $1,325 in civil fines.

R.D. King Farms of Society Hill was fined penalty for unsafe transportation of workers when the grower transported migrant workers on public roadways in the open cargo bed of a pickup truck.

The farms and Fisteac grow and harvest tobacco for various commercial brands.

Michelle Garvey, director of the Wage and Hour Division’s Columbia District Office said in a release,”These workers, who are away from their families for months at a time, deserve a safe work environment and to be paid every penny they rightfully earn.”

The employers have agreed to future compliance with Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act standards and to pay all back wages and civil money penalties owed.

The Labor Department says it will continue to visit South Carolina fields and packing houses to ensure compliance with child and agricultural labor standards.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary: SC high-poverty areas to get “intensive care”

According to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, South Carolina’s high poverty areas will be getting “intensive care” to help them improve farms, create markets for produce, build fire stations and schools, use technology, find doctors to move there, or whatever that community decides it needs to improve opportunities for its citizens.

Vilsack Clyburn

Vilsack at Statehouse with Clyburn

The project can be as simple as a small-acreage farmer to learn efficient irrigation techniques or as involved a building a new school.

StrikeForce coordinates the staff, funds and resources of divisions of the USDA, rural development, farm services, nutrition, and rural conservation, to address each community’s specific needs.

In each of the first three states to get StrikeForce help, Arkansas, Georgia and Mississippi, there was a dramatic rise in the number of farm loans awarded. In those three states, traditionally lower producers have had as much as a 15,000 percent increase in acreage put under better practices– working toward saving farms and jobs.

Secretary Tom Vilsack came to South Carolina Tuesday to announce that the program is now expanding to South Carolina as well as Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Virginia –focusing on areas where the poverty rate is 20 percent or more and has persistently been above that percentage.

Vilsack says they have to build ”partnerships with community building organizations, local organizations that would have credibility with local folks. We recognize that sometimes when the federal government comes in to help, people are sometimes skeptical about the degree of help. Sometimes the process is complicated and oftentimes people are met with failure because of the complexity. We wanted to cut through that.”

South Carolina’s 6th District Congressman James Clyburn escorted Vilsack to a private meeting with community leaders in Bamberg County, where they discussed their needs.

“We talked about a partnership that we are forming with the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities. They’ve pledged $1 million, NRCS and our forest service adding $200,000 to that pledge to help African American forest owners develop sustainable practices and make sure they can hang on to forest areas,” Vilsack said.”This is the kind of thing you are going to see more of.”

Vilsack acknowledges that part of StrikeForce funding is tied up in the fate of whatever farm bill comes out of Congress. Right now, Congress has stalled over extending the 2008 version, which Vilsack says does not meet current needs.

Despite that, he says there are enough resources now to make the program work to make significant improvements in the state’s struggling rural areas.

Honea Path man killed by hay bale

Investigators in Anderson County are looking into the death of a man struck by a hay bale Sunday morning.

The Anderson County Coroner’s Office said 55-year-old David Knight of Honea Path was using an old tractor with a front end that resembled a forklift to move the hay. Investigators said while the 800-1,000 pound bale was lifted off the ground, it rolled back over the tractor and onto Knight, pinning him in his seat.

Investigators said Knight was found by his son, who had gone out to the pasture to check on his father because he had not returned to the home when expected so the family could go to church. Anderson County firefighters responded to an emergency call at the scene. They tried, but failed, to resuscitate Knight.

The investigators believe Knight had been trying to drop the hay bale into a trough where his cattle could eat it.

“I’ve been up to my elbows” Debate in Chester County over farmers using human sewage

More than 300 people turned out Tuesday night in Chester County for a public hearing on what has become a controversial topic of spreading “biosolids” in four upstate counties. That is because the “biosolids” in this case are treated human sewage.

Hundreds of residents gathered at a DHEC hearing in Richburg Tuesday (Courtesy: Andrew Kiel)

Hundreds of residents gathered at a DHEC hearing in Richburg Tuesday (Courtesy: Andrew Kiel)

Since 2000, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control has allowed a Charlotte-based company to spread treated sewage on 99 farms in York, Chester, Lancaster and Fairfield counties. The sewage, better known as a Class B biosolid, is popular among farmers who prefer the waste to expensive fertilizers. But the sewage is not as popular among those who live next to those farms and have to deal with the pungent odor that comes courtesy of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities Department.

Farmers like John Williams told the state agency the bio solids act as a natural fertilizer. “They’re doing an excellent job. They’re doing a professional job. They’re doing it in a way that’s not harmful to anyone. Now, I’m not going to stand here and tell you it doesn’t smell, It does. But it doesn’t stay,” Williams said Tuesday.

Yet, South Carolinian Dennis Summers said he is battling cancer, and fears the sludge nearby may affect his health. “My immune system is down. And one of the fields is less than a quarter mile from my front door. So it causes me concern.”

[Read more...]