Each week we’ll round up the latest N.C. agriculture headlines from newspapers across the state and country, as well as excerpts from the stories. Click on the links to go straight to each paper’s full story.
- “Johnson Farm Festival kicks off this weekend,” Hendersonville Times-News: The air on Saturday will fill with the sounds of bluegrass music, the tapping feet of dancers, the braying of farm animals and the squeals of youngsters on wagon rides as the 19th annual farm festival gets under way at the Historic Johnson Farm. …
- “Officials celebrate at food center site,” Durham Herald-Sun: U.S. Rep. David Price, D-N.C., and other officials representing Orange County and three of its neighbors gathered Thursday for a “celebration of partnership” at the future site of the Piedmont Food and Agriculture Processing Center in Hillsborough. The 10,400-square-foot building, scheduled to open in June 2010, will be a shared-use facility designed to allow farmers and local food entrepreneurs in the Piedmont to better compete in a “Buy Local, Eat Seasonal, Farm to Fork” economy. …
- “Officials on farm and land tour see the importance of history, culture,” Durham Herald-Sun: Sometimes environmental conservation means more than just protecting land. It can mean preserving history and culture, too. Four Durham County commissioners got to learn that lesson firsthand Thursday afternoon as they embarked on a five-hour tour arranged by local open space and farmland preservation officials. One of the hosts and teachers on the tour was Douglas Daye of northern Durham. He lives on the farm that has been officially listed as his family’s property since 1905. …
- “Hood: Picking On The Farm Team,” Carolina Journal: Although North Carolina’s economy and employment base have changed significantly over the past few decades, plenty of evidence remains of our agrarian past. Head out of any of the state’s major metropolitan areas and you will fairly quickly start to see fields planted in grains, tobacco, vegetables, and other crops. You will see livestock. Agriculture remains a critical element of North Carolina’s economic present and future. But like many other sectors, it’s under siege – from a credit squeeze, from the effects of worldwide recession, and from ceaseless assault by governments and political extremists. …
- “Roll up your sleeves and get back to nature,” Hendersonville Times-News: I, like every other amateur gardener and commercial grower in Western North Carolina, was watching the weather last week. I planted peas, lettuce and spinach in my tiny garden plot the previous weekend. I know they can tolerate the cold, but it was disheartening to see a dusting of snow across my garden Tuesday morning. …
- “Shellfish Expo links growers, buyers,” Jacksonville Daily News: As guests of the 2009 Shellfish Expo tasted entrees and appetizers featuring oysters and clams, Jay Styron of Carolina Mariculture Company was pleased to see the empty plates. … The Shellfish Expo is a collaboration of the North Carolina Shellfish Growers Association, North Carolina Sea Grant, Carteret Community College, Progress Energy Carolinas, the N.C. Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Consumer Services, North Carolina Farm Bureau, and the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service. …
- “Farmers markets seek wider niche,” Raleigh News & Observer: Six canopies teeming with local plants, produce and crafts on Clayton’s grassy square signify a farm-fresh optimism taking root in the Triangle despite the chilly economy. Open for business on a breezy Saturday, Clayton’s new downtown farmers market is one of at least half a dozen such fledgling enterprises popping up in the Triangle this spring — a bumper crop of ventures whose success hinges on customers willing to pay the often premium price for locally grown food. …
- “Showcasing beauties of the beasts,” Durham Herald-Sun: Cash, Johnny Cash, the man in black, the big dude from Orange High School. He’s thrown a couple of guys over the fence, drug them around the corral, yet he’s a still got a little of that urban cool thing going on — he likes his black hair to be washed, blown dried and clipped just so. To Dustin Champion and Tyler Craven, both 17-year-old Orange High School students, he represents cash money, but darn it, they’re going to miss the big lug when they sell him tonight at the auction and say their final goodbyes. Cash is a big black steer the two friends raised and were scheduled to show Wednesday evening at the 64th annual Central Piedmont Junior Livestock Show & Sale. …