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.
- “NC Peach Growers Consider Self-Imposed Fee,” WFAE: (Audio)North Carolina’s peach industry has been shrinking, but farmers still growing the summer fruit hope a little extra money will turn things around. Over the next month, they’ll be voting on a self-imposed assessment ranging from $100 to $350 a year to help fund peach research and marketing. …
- “NC Ag Commissioner Celebrates Wine & Grape Month,” Southern Farm Network: (Audio) September is wine and grape month. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler: “We are proud to have the Wine and Grape Council back in the Department of Ag. This is a growth industry. Over the past decade its been five fold growth. The state is now home to 118 wineries and 400 commercial grape growers. …
- “Competing Public Health Needs Complicate Proposed Food-safety Rules,” North Carolina Health News: As new federal food-safety rules loom beyond the horizon, hundreds of farmers and food processors gathered this week at the state fairgrounds in Raleigh for N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler’s annual Food Safety Forum. “We all realize food safety is a public health issue,” Troxler said. “But it’s also an agriculture issue.” Since passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) in January 2011, Troxler has been using the forum to help farmers and processors understand what will be expected of them by the new law. …
- “State budget cuts threaten future of biofuels research in North Carolina,” Fayetteville Observer: The test field in front of John Garner looks more like a jungle than a farm, with thickly clustered rows of grassy plants towering 15 feet high. The bamboo-like plants called arundo donax – or giant reed – were chopped to 6-inch stalks in January. Arundo donax is just one of several fast-growing plants, including miscanthus and switchgrass, that Garner and other researchers at the North Carolina Biofuels Center hope will someday replace corn as the chief ingredient in biofuels.Researchers say Southeastern North Carolina is uniquely poised to become a national leader in biofuel production for two primary reasons: …
- “Mountain State Fair is a ‘window into agriculture,” Hendersonville Times News: This week, the N.C. Mountain State Fair is rolling into Fletcher for its 20th year. The 87 acres at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center will be filled with laughing children, smiling adults, games, rides, sea lions and all the food imaginable. The fair opens Friday and runs through Sept. 15. With 30 carnival rides, 30 children’s rides and 50 carnival games, the fair attracts an average of more than 180,000 visitors each year. …
- “Wet weather causing leaf burn in soybeans,” Southeast Farm Press: With late planting and weather issues already hampering soybean production in the Upper Southeast, what growers need is a problem free few weeks to salvage a soybean crop, but more problems may be on the horizon. The latest problem is a symptom being reported by North Carolina growers and is referred to as “Physiological Scorch”. When there is extensive chlorosis (yellowing) between the veins of the leaf, or necrosis (dead tissue) between the veins, which may occur on the top of the plant or throughout the plant, we refer to this symptom as physiological scorch. …
- “What does the future hold for animals at the fair?,” Shelby Star: Keeping with tradition, the Cleveland County Fair and N.C. State Fair will include animals this year. But fair patrons at both events won’t be allowed to pet those animals, a year after an E. coli outbreak sickened more than 100 people and led to the death of a toddler following visits to the county fair. State health officials said the illness outbreak was traced back to a petting zoo at the local fairgrounds. …
- “NC Farms, Other Businesses Get More Wiggle Room With E-Verify,” WFAE: (Audio) One of the laws that state legislators upheld Wednesday despite Governor Pat McCrory’s veto is a measure designed to give farmers extra wiggle room in hiring seasonal workers. Any business in North Carolina with at least 25 employees is required to submit documentation on each worker to the Department of Homeland Security. The program is called E-Verify, and it’s supposed to prevent immigrants in the country illegally from getting jobs. But seasonal, temporary employees don’t have to be cleared through that system in North Carolina, so long as they work fewer than three months a year. …
- “HCC receives grant to help WNC farmers,” The Mountaineer: Haywood Community College recently received a grant from the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services called, “Geothermal Chilling for WNC Farmers.” This $50,000 grant will be used to develop and install a demonstration geothermal precooling facility for Western North Carolina crops. …
- “Rain has helped local mushroom grower,”Hendersonville Times News: While excess rainfall has been the bane of most county farmers, mushroom grower Greg Carter says the moist conditions have made 2013 a banner year for cultivating edible fungi. Carter has about 3,000 cut logs on his 2-acre farm that are inoculated with the “seed” of various mushrooms, mostly shiitake but also one called lion’s mane. He harvests about 75 pounds of ‘shrooms per week and sells them at farmers’ markets and to local restaurants. …
- “Master Gardener – Webworms rarely cause lasting damage,” Wilmington Star News: Masses of webbing on the ends of tree branches in your yard and along the roadsides are the work of the fall webworm, a species of caterpillar native to our region. Fall webworm outbreaks occur every year and are most noticeable in late summer and fall. This year they are particularly prolific but, fortunately, they cause little lasting damage to trees and shrubs. Fall webworms are native to much of North America and are one of the few insect pests introduced from our continent to other parts of the world. …