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.
- “N.C. State names agricultural research director,” WRAL: A longtime North Carolina State University faculty member has been named associate dean for research for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of the college’s North Carolina Agricultural Research Service. David Smith, Philip Morris professor and formerly head of the Department of Crop Science, succeeds Sylvia Blankenship, CALS associate dean for administration, who was serving as interim Research Service director. …
- “Report: Do more for agriculture,” Hendersonville Times-News: Henderson County should do more to enhance agriculture, according to a recently produced Agriculture Preservation Plan. The report was funded through a grant from the N.C. Agriculture Development and Farmland Protection Trust Fund and written by John Bonham, a consultant with an expertise in agriculture economics. Henderson County is the third-largest agriculture economy in the state. It produced an average of $141 million in annual cash receipts. …
- “Report: N.C. missed 2000 land-preservation goal,” Raleigh News and Observer: North Carolina environmentalists are pointing out that the state missed former Gov. Jim Hunt’s challenge to protect a million acres of land from development within a decade. Members of conservation groups on Thursday discuss a report describing how far the state got toward reaching the goal of preserving a million acres of farmland, open space, and conservation lands by 2010. Hunt challenged governments and private groups in January 2000 to do more to protect the state’s quality of life in the face of rapid population growth. The initiative depended heavily on taxpayer-funded programs that received more applications than they could approve. The recession has slowed the flow of taxpayer money into the funds in recent years. …
- “Farmers learning new ways to succeed,” Hendersonville Times-News: The apple business is changing, and apple farmers should consider alternative crops and marketing techniques, according to speakers at the annual Southeastern Apple Growers Association conference. The two-day conference is an annual meeting that draws apple farmers from North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. It continues today at Crowne Plaza Resort in Asheville. Technology, changing eating habits and a switch to locally grown food have created opportunities and challenges for apple growers. Some growers have opened their farms to the public and others have turned to long-term storage techniques to keep produce fresh longer, hoping to change and adjust to the new markets. Danny McConnell’s family members have traditionally been apple farmers in Henderson County. In the mid-1990s, he diversified his business and began to sell fruit, vegetable and value-added products, such as ice cream and preserves, directly to the public. The diversification helped, but took the farm away from apples. …
- “Family Farm Still Going Strong After A Hundred Years,” WHQR: In North Carolina there are sixteen hundred recognized century farms, meaning farms that have been in one family for more than a hundred years. Many of them are no longer farmed on, and are at risk of being sold off or developed. WHQR caught up with Pender County Commissioner F.D. Rivenbark on his farm, one he says, is still going strong. Rivenbark says, “On this little road alone, it’s one mile and it dead ends. When I was a child there were 6 and 7 houses and I could walk along – of course I knew everybody. On this road now there are 30 houses and most of those have been placed there in the last 8 or 10 years. And that’s the way it’s going all over Pender County.” …