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.
- “Editorial – Early arrival of hurricane season means it’s time to check preparedness,” Wilmington Star-News: Today marks the official beginning of the Atlantic hurricane season, not that we need reminding. Two days ago the remnants of Tropical Storm Beryl soaked the Cape Fear region, causing road flooding and dropping about 4 inches of rain in the area before moving back out to sea. …
- “Wet spring hampering farmers,” New Bern Sun Journal: When remnants of Tropical Storm Byrel saturated Craven County with rain Wednesday, farmers could only shake their heads … again. For the past three or four weeks, Craven County farmers have been kept from harvesting wheat or preparing their fields for summer crops. …
- “Salmonella by mail? Hatchery sparks 8-year outbreak,” MSNBC: It took eight years and multiple tests, trace-backs and interviews with sick owners of fuzzy chicks, but federal health officials say they’ve finally clamped down on an outbreak of salmonella infections traced to live, mail-order poultry. …
- “Gov’t expanding E. coli tests in meat,” Charlotte Observer: The government is expanding E. coli testing in some raw meat, a move expected to prevent more people from contracting the bacteria that can cause severe illness or death. …
- “PLANT @ Breeze Farm incubates a new generation of growers,” Independent Weekly: It’s a quarter after five and Ross Mickens has already made the nearly 40-minute commute from Cary to Hurdle Mills for his second job. He scatters hay between rows of crops with his wife, Jillian. …
- “New ticks spread across Southeast, diseases rise,” Charlotte Observer: In the trees and grasses of the South, there are a growing number of unwanted visitors that at best are an itchy nuisance and at worst can carry debilitating diseases: Ticks. …
- “Kudzu bugs are N.C.’s latest imported scourge,” News & Observer: Poison-spined lionfish. Swarming feral pigs. Giant cannibal shrimp. So many weird creatures from somewhere else have been causing problems in North Carolina lately that perhaps the latest twist was inevitable…
- “Social Media Is A Critical Part Of Industry’s Risk Management,” Beef Magazine: If you were on the social networking site Twitter the afternoon of April 24, you would have seen the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Policy Division (tweeting under the handle @BeltwayBeef) effectively responding to what could have potentially been a media nightmare. …