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.
- “Chinese-owned lumber company expanding Charlotte headquarters,” Charlotte Observer: A Chinese-owned hardwood lumber company will expand its headquarters in Charlotte, adding 30 jobs, the Charlotte Chamber announced Tuesday. …
- “Spring means plenty of good food from Piedmont Triad farmers,” Greensboro News & Record: Poet Margaret Atwood once said, “In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” And although the recent cold weather continues to test my patience for springtime, daffodils are in full bloom on Mendenhall Street. …
- “Farm Notes: N.C. cantaloupe pilot program,” Smithfield Herald: The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is partnering with N.C. State University’s Cooperative Extension Service to offer a pilot cantaloupe program.
- “Forest Service braces for bad wildfire season amid cuts,” Asheville Citizen-Times: Persistent drought and an infestation of tree-killing insects have left broad swaths of the USA vulnerable to unusually fierce wildfires for the second straight year just as the U.S. Forest Service is dealing with cuts in its fire-fighting budget. …
- “USDA expanding program to fight rural poverty,” News & Observer: U.S. officials are expanding a program intended to reduce poverty and improve life in rural areas through better access to federal funding. …
- “NC Strawberries Bearing Up to Cold Just Fine,” Southern Farm Network: Once again, Chicken Little has it wrong; there’s nothing wrong with the North Carolina strawberry crop according to Debbie Wechsler, Executive Secretary of the NC Strawberry Association…
- “Planting season arrives with no Farm Bill in place,” Wilmington Star-News: Every year Don Rawls plants a variety of crops ranging from wheat to cotton on his Pender County farm. In a few weeks, Rawls, a barrel-chested 50-year-old fourth-generation farmer, will start planting corn. …