Each week we round up the latest N.C. agricultural headlines from news outlets across the state and country, as well as excerpts from the stories. Click on the links to go straight to the full story.
- “North Carolina strawberries hit shelves early this year,” News 14: While it’s often thought of as a Mother’s Day crop, North Carolina strawberries are already in season. On Thursday, the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market received their first crates of the berries this year from Guilford County grower Sawyer Farms. …
- “Showtime for animals,” News & Observer: It’s almost showtime and Wesley Dobbins gets ready by blow-drying his ewe. After he shears the lamb, dusts her with oil and fits her with a tight T-shirt to preserve the newly groomed coat, the animal is ready for the ring. The ring is the main stage today: a continuing rotation of sheep, goats, hogs, heifers and steers during the Central Piedmont Junior Livestock Show and Sale. …
- “Progress to buy chickens’ biogas,” News & Observer: Progress Energy has signed a contract to purchase energy from North Carolina’s first plant that will convert poultry waste into biogas. Progress will buy the output of a 36-megawatt plant in Montgomery County that will be owned and operated by Poultry Power USA. …
- “Durham bread company owner sentenced for fraud,” WRAL-TV: Durham bread company owner found guilty of fraud for selling products that made dozens of customers ill was sentenced Tuesday to between nine and 11 years in prison. …
- “Dessert maker bringing 342 jobs to Pembroke,” Fayetteville Observer: Steven Roberts Original Desserts and Ticklebelly Desserts plans to purchase and renovate a 100,000-square-foot bakery in Pembroke and hire 342 people over three years. …
- “Raleigh allows more community gardens,” News & Observer: A patch of dirt behind Moore Square Museums Magnet Middle School may hold the secret to getting children to eat their vegetables. Students last week planted rows of lettuce, leeks, radishes and onions next to the school ball field, showing the kind of excitement normally reserved for video games or Justin Bieber. …
- “Farm subsidies face $30B hit under GOP budget plan,” Charlotte Observer: The Republican head of the House Budget Committee has proposed cutting agriculture subsidies by $30 billion over the next 10 years as part of a broad effort to slash federal spending, but it remains to be seen whether his ideas will be incorporated in legislation that sets funding for agriculture programs. …
- “Effort underway to sequence blueberry genome at NC Research Campus,” WRAL-TV: Dr. Allan Brown, assistant professor with N.C. State University’s Plants for Human Health Institute at the N.C. Research Campus, is leading the effort to sequence the blueberry genome. …