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.
- “With prices up, more farmers may plant peanuts,” Charlotte Observer: Drought and strong prices could push more peanut production out of traditional regions and into states such as Arkansas and Mississippi not known for growing the crop but with ample water to give it a try. …
- “Firm buys Nash land for chicken plant,” WRAL: Despite controversy over a proposed chicken processing plant in Nash County, Sanderson Farms continues to move ahead with plans for the operation. …
- “225 acres in Avery County protected by conservancy,” Asheville Citizen-Times: Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy (SAHC), the land trust based out of Asheville, has purchased 225 acres to the west of U.S. 19 East in the Spear Community of Avery County, including the double-summit of Spear Tops Mountain. The property, once known as the “Falls at Hawks Crossing,” came to the attention of local officials when a development outfit from Florida purchased the tract and sought to sell high-end lots. …
- “Hemlocks pest-free in Cary preserve A,” News & Observer: The Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve remains free of a lethal insect that threatened its namesake hemlock trees last year. The town announced Tuesday that testing done this fall turned up no signs of the hemlock woolly adelgid, an aphid-like insect that kills trees by feeding at the base of their needles, which eventually turn brown and drop off. …
- “More young people see opportunity in farming,” Charlotte Observer: A Wisconsin factory worker worried about layoffs became a dairy farmer. An employee at a Minnesota nonprofit found an escape from her cubicle by buying a vegetable farm. A nuclear engineer tired of office bureaucracy decided to get into cattle ranching in Texas. …
- “NC gasoline tax to rise almost 4 cents in January,” WRAL: As expected, North Carolina’s gasoline tax is going up by almost 4 cents a gallon starting with the new year. Revenue Secretary David Hoyle announced Tuesday the state motor fuels tax would grow by 3.9 cents per gallon to a record 38.9 cents starting Jan 1. …
- “Western NC residents snap up locally grown food,” WRAL: It’s pretty simple: When it comes to local food sales, mountain consumers pony up the cash. The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project has released estimates that Western North Carolina consumers bought $62 million worth of local food in 2010. …
- “Bi-Lo and Winn-Dixie to become 9th-largest chain,” Charlotte Observer: Mauldin, S.C.-based Bi-Lo and Florida-based Winn-Dixie Stores plan to merge, the chains said Monday, creating a chain of nearly 700 stores across the Southeast. …