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.
- “Lighting a fire in the Triangle restaurant scene,” The Technician: Restaurant goers living in Raleigh, Durham or Chapel Hill may have reason to be excited about a new development in the Triangle restaurant scene. Fire in the Triangle, a new competition in which 16 chosen chefs from various restaurants compete against each other, June 11 and will end July 24. All but two events have already sold out. …
- “US wildfires fuel urgency for forest restoration,” Charlotte Observer: As firefighters battle blazes in New Mexico and Colorado that have forced evacuations and destroyed hundreds of structures, the U.S. Forest Service chief is renewing his call to restore forests to a more natural state, where fire was a part of the landscape. …
- “Thousands of turkeys die in Lenoir County fire,” WRAL: Firefighters estimated 7,000 turkeys died early Wednesday when fire destroyed a large turkey house off of Brothers Road outside La Grange.
- “‘Hub farm’ may be in the works,” Durham Herald-Sun: Rick Sheldahl led the way Wednesday afternoon through high grass and mud, down into a field beside two ponds with a ramshackle barn….This week, he went to the Board of Education’s instructional committee with a plan that’s still in the formative stages to put an agricultural farm and a market on property owned by the school district near Eno Valley Elementary School…
- “Exciting technology to be demonstrated at Precision Ag Field Day,” Southern Farm Network: Everyday it seems, there’s some new technological gadget or widget that’s going to make our lives easier. Some are a considerable investment, some are not, and in agriculture it’s no exception. …
- “Point of View: Nurturing better agriculture,” News & Observer: In 1933, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the very first farm bill, formally called the Agricultural Adjustment Act, he told the nation that “an unprecedented condition calls for the trial of new means to rescue agriculture.” That legislation, passed as the country struggled to emerge from the Depression, was visionary in the way it employed agricultural policy to address significant national issues, including rural poverty and hunger. …
- “Craft beer contest at this fall’s N.C. State Fair,” News & Observer: So first things first: No. You will not be able to drink beer at this year’s N.C. State Fair. (Sigh.) But for the first time ever, North Carolina craft brewers and home brewers can compete in a statewide contest to be declared the best beer in one of 15 categories. …
- “Berries and more at annual Burgaw celebration,” Wilmington Star-News: For the ninth straight year, Burgaw will expand from a 3,500-resident town to a travel destination for up to 30,000 people when the North Carolina Blueberry Festival takes place on Friday and Saturday in the historic downtown area. …
- “Exotic bug threatens Smokies ash trees,” Asheville Citizen-Times: Biologists with Great Smoky Mountains National Park expect within the next month to start treating ash trees infected with an exotic beetle that has decimated the trees in other parts of the country. …