Each week we’ll round up the latest N.C. agricultural 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.
- “North Carolina and the raw milk controversy,” Examiner.com. Raw milk, or milk that has not been pasteurized or homogenized, is becoming more and more popular – and controversial. Supporters of raw milk point to the health benefits of raw milk, while opponents point to concerns about disease and contamination. Pasteurization was developed by Louis Pasteur in the late 1860s as a process to slow the growth of microbes by heating food. …
- “Food and drug protection chief named,” News & Observer. State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler has named Dan Ragan director of the food and drug protection division at the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, effective Sept. 1. Ragan, a registered pharmacist, currently is assistant director of the food and drug protection division. He will succeed Joe Reardon, who is retiring from the department …
- “Musicians band together for farms,” Durham Herald Sun. A new anthology of North Carolina musicians — among them Squirrel Nut Zippers, Megfaun, Tres Chicas and others — will raise money for an organization that helps family farms that are facing hardship. The CD, titled “North Carolina Homegrown Music for the Soil,” is a partnership between Whole Foods Market and Redeye Distribution. …
- “Recession further squeezes ag research, Extension funds,” Southeast Farm Press. The current recession has made for some well publicized strange bedfellows — the Federal Government and U.S. auto makers for one and the Federal Government and the banking industry for another. Perhaps more unfortunately, the current recession is likely to make enemies from friends and pit tax-supported programs like agricultural research and Extension programs against their traditional supporters in education and industry. …
- “Custom-blend fertilizers making mark,” Southeast Farm Press. The Betts brothers of Harnett County, N.C., grew up raising tobacco and, in 1991, assumed management of their father’s farm. For years, they relied heavily on standard fertilizers they trusted, like 6-6-18 and “Bulldog soda.” Escalating prices for the first and scarce supplies of the second led them to consider switching to custom blends. Now they can’t imagine using anything else. …
- “Paying their dues, farmers persevere to make a crop,” Asheville Citizen Times. Excessive rain. Hungry, plant-munching deer. Fungal diseases. Fluctuating prices. And some hardy crops that thrived despite all of the above. It’s been that kind of summer for local growers, including Fairview residents Jeremy and Amanda Sizemore …