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 aims to open trade route with China,” Nursery Management: A group of green-industry professionals from Shanghai, China, recently visited North Carolina, opening the door for a horticultural relationship. The trade delegation traveled to the United States to find new ornamental plants for China’s landscape industry. …
- “Lowe’s Food Stores Commits to 10 Percent Campaign,” Locally Grown News: Lowe’s Foods Stores, Inc. of Winston-Salem has signed on as a major partner of the 10% Campaign, a North Carolina initiative designed to encourage consumers to spend 10 percent of their food budget on locally-produced foods. …
- “NY company growing mushrooms as packing material,” Charlotte Observer: Turns out that mushrooms – great in soups and salads – also make decent packaging material. Mushrooms are a key ingredient in the pale, soft blocks produced by the thousands in an upstate New York plant that are used to cushion products ranging from Dell Inc. servers to furniture for Crate and Barrel. …
- “In Seattle, plans for a harvestable ‘food forest’,” Charlotte Observer: A plot of grass sits in the middle of Seattle, feet from a busy road and on a hill that overlooks the city’s skyline. But it’s no ordinary patch of green. Residents hope it will become one of the country’s largest “food forests.” The park, which will start at 2 acres and grow to 7, will offer city dwellers a chance to pick apples, plums and other crops right from the branch. …
- “Warm winter may bring pest-filled spring,” News & Observer: The mild winter that has given many Northern farmers a break from shoveling and a welcome chance to catch up on maintenance could lead to a tough spring as many pests that would normally freeze have not. …
- “Weather may damage peaches; apples safe for now,” Hendersonville Times-News: The chill that enveloped the mountains Tuesday morning went right down Kenny Barnwell’s spine when the Henderson County farmer woke to read his thermometer. …
- “Conservationists from 11 counties discuss how to improve the lives,” GoDanRiver.com: Last Thursday’s sunny skies and mild temperatures meant a door leading to the deck around Heron’s Roost at Haw River State Park could be left open. It also meant many of the more than 60 representatives from Area III of the North Carolina Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts were often distracted from the spring meeting presentations by squirrels playing in the tree just beyond the deck’s railing. …
- “Cherokee County damage assessment continues after tornado hits Murphy,” Asheville Citizen-Times: Representatives from Cherokee County Emergency Management and the U.S. Small Business Administration spent Monday working to assess the damage from a tornado that hit portions of the county Friday night. …
- “Snipping success,” Chapel Hill News: Jeanne Painter has seen what happens to unwanted pets. The Efland woman studies animal management at Alamance Community College….Painter, 51, knows spaying and neutering prevents unwanted animals. Still, she might not have sterilized her own three dogs last week if not for Orange County’s making the procedures free for people who qualify. …
- “Safety concerns, industry changes push U.S. to rethink approach to food inspection,” The Washington Post: Every day, inspectors in white hats and coats take up positions at every one of the nation’s slaughterhouses, eyeballing the hanging carcasses of cows and chickens as they shuttle past on elevated rails, looking for bruises, tumors and signs of contamination. …