EstablishEd 1917 a CEntury of sErviCE GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE • GARY W. BLACK, COMMISSIONER • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2019 • VOL. 102, NO. 23 • © COPYRIGHT 2019 April flood puts metro farmers out of business Global Growers seeks new farm site to serve refugees, immigrants By Amy Carter ary
[email protected] e0r1s7 Learn more about Global i v2 Growers’ flood recovery efforts n– at https://www.globalgrowers. STONE MOUNTAIN – There was noth- A17n ing perfect about the storm that befell Bam- 10 0 t 1h9 org/flood-recovery boo Creek Farm on April 19. It started with heavy rain that turned the trickling waters Although more labor intensive than tradi- of Snapfinger Creek into a flood, which -in tional row-cropping, this style of production undated 10 acres cultivated by refugee and was fruitful enough to be the sole financial immigrant farmers making a fresh start in support for three of the five farmers displaced the suburbs of Atlanta. by the flood. Altogether, the Global Growers Spring crops were in full production, and network realized more than $200,000 a year about 80 percent of the farm’s summer plant- in retail and wholesale income. ings were in the ground. Two seasons were Bamboo Creek Farm was the hub of this lost in one fell swoop. Adding woe to hard- operation. A former horse farm situated at ship was a new set of food safety regulations the back of a residential neighborhood, the that prohibit the sale of any crop touched by farm was a model of ingenuity. The barn flood waters.