One of the problems with times like these, when one great news item tends to dominate and take up all the time and space that media has to offer, is that some things slip by which deserve more attention than they get. Things happen in the legislature; things happen in Congress; the stock market goes up a thousand points, hardly noticed. If it doesn't have to do with the war or peace rallies it gets squeezed right out of the news ... and that is a shame.
The reason this came to mind is because Tom Folger died the other day. Tom Folger. There was a time in Gainesville when, if you mentioned Tom Folger, most everybody in town would know who you were talking about. He was one of the first generation leaders of the poultry industry ...one of the pioneers. But he lived longer than most of them. Jesse Jewell. Joe Tankersley, Ralph Cleveland ... I shouldn't have started this, for there are a number of others. But the fact is they started an industry, the agribusiness poultry industry, and they created a new form of agriculture in America. It is integrated, coordinated, and it gives American consumers (no, world consumers) some of the best high protein food imaginable, at a reasonable price. Not only that, it is good eating.
The economy of Northeast Georgia was pretty well devastated when these guys, Tom Folger included, started the broiler business. The Chestnut blight had all but destroyed the timber and lumber business. The land was eroding from farming on mountain slopes, and if that wasn't bad enough the boll weevil had caused cotton to fail as the main crop in the area. We had some cotton mills, but otherwise this had never been an industrial area. The poultry industry saved this mountain region, and more than that it rebuilt its soils and beauty. Tom Folger was a part of that ... one of the leaders that made it happen. He was a good one.
This is Gordon Sawyer, from a window on historic Green Street.
Tuesday
August 5th, 2025
5:04AM
