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.
- “Mountain State Fair tickets on sale,” Hendersonville Times-News: Country music star Randy Houser and the Traveling McCourys with Tony Rice headline this year’s North Carolina Mountain State Fair. It takes place Sept. 11 through Sept. 20 at the Western North Carolina Agriculture Center. …
- “High tunnel berries could be boon for growers,” Southeast Farm Press: Don’t be surprised if berry growers in the Southeast start to develop “tunnel” vision. The Florida variety Strawberry Festival works best in a high tunnel program in North Carolina. That’s because the new technology called “high tunnel production” appears ready to help produce higher yields and better quantity of strawberries, blackberries and it should also greatly extend the production season and perhaps at the same time widen the marketing window, allowing growers to capture better prices. What is a high tunnel? “I call it a poor man’s greenhouse,” says Joe Hampton, superintendent of the Piedmont Research Station in Salisbury N.C., where much of the research is going on. …
- “Troxler: NC tobacco in China’s future,” Elizabeth City Daily Advance: Just back from a recent trade mission to China, the state’s agriculture commissioner Steve Troxler made a trip last week through the Albemarle to get in touch with his constituents in rural N.C. Troxler toured farms in Bertie, Chowan and Gates counties spreading news of Chinese markets interested in N.C. products. …
- “To his surprise, they farm full-time,” News & Observer: Years ago, Bob and Ginger Sykes’ Turtle Mist Farm near Franklinton was home to an amusement park called Arkland. Parents brought their children to see exotic animals, ride a miniature railroad or paddle-boats and listen to country singers. You get the feeling the spirit of the place persists when you listen to Bob talk about farming there. He had planned just to dabble, grow vegetables for himself, but then he started raising lambs and chickens, so now he’s trying turkeys, too. …
- “Web site is fresh way to discover N.C. wines,” Winston-Salem Journal: Let’s say you’re interested in learning about North Carolina wine. You could start spending your weekends touring area wineries. You could even go to the supermarket or a wine store and pick up a bottle at random. Or you could log on to www.northcarolinawine.tv and learn about the wines vicariously from two curious Raleigh residents. …
- “WNC apple harvest drops,” Asheville Citizen-Times: Don’t tell an apple grower we needed all the rain we’ve gotten this year. “I heard a lot of people say back in the spring, ‘We need all the rain we can get,’ but when fruit trees are in bloom and it’s cold and wet, bees do not work,” said Adam Pryor, whose family grows 100 acres of apples in Henderson County. “Plus, we had a little bit of frost in certain areas, and some of the early varieties are way down.” …
- “New outdoor burning rules in effect,” Yadkin Ripple: A recent agreement between North Carolina environmental and agricultural officials may change the way you’ve been disposing of unwanted items. … In information released last week by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, the memorandum of understanding between the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Division of Air Quality and the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services sets guidelines for acceptable burning at farms, primarily to control diseases or pests as well as some crop residues. …
- “Falling for the state fairs,” Atlanta Journal Constitution: Photo: The N.C. State Fair has rides, for adults and for the kids along with attractions and entertainment from regional and national recording artists. Photo: North Carolina State Fair Miss Debbie’s Specialty Apples are a featured treat at the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh. The event dates back to the 1850s, and remains the state’s showcase for its agricultural offerings. It’s Oct. 15 to 25. …