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
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“Forest Service program accepting Arbor Day Photo Contest entries,” Mountain Xpress: The N.C. Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Program is accepting entries for its 2014 Arbor Day Photo Contest through Feb. 28. The contest is open to North Carolina students in fifth through 12th grades, including public, private and home schools. The theme is “Young and Old.” “The theme reflects not just the beauty of North Carolina’s trees and forests, but also the values and benefits that many generations have enjoyed,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. …
“Bayer CropScience’s ‘Beesboro’ is beehiving as planned,” WRAL: The Clayton suburb of “Beesboro” is ready to start humming.
Actually, Beesboro is more of a research apiary than a suburb. On Monday, global agricultural company Bayer CropScience held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the new 1,200-square-foot bee-care center on its 278-acre Clayton Training and Development Center campus. …
“Farm bill takes aim at state animal welfare laws,” News & Observer: The future of state laws that regulate everything from the size of a hen’s cage to the safe consumption of Gulf oysters may be at stake as farm bill negotiators work to resolve a long-simmering fight between agriculture and animal welfare interests. The House Agriculture Committee added language to its version of the farm bill earlier this year that says a state cannot impose certain production standards on agricultural products sold in interstate commerce. …
“Forsyth County receives grant to create farmland protection plan,” Winston-Salem Journal: Forsyth County has received a $14,000 grant to create a farmland protection plan, an opportunity to take a comprehensive look at the state of local agriculture and create a long-range plan for protecting prime farmland. Now the county commissioners just have to vote to accept the grant. The item has been included on the board’s Nov. 25 agenda. Last December, the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners gave the Forsyth County Cooperative Extension Service the go-ahead to apply for a grant from the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Agricultural and Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund. …
“Calmer Weather Aids in the Firefighting Effort at Table Rock,” McDowell News: Firefighters are making progress on containment lines for the Table Rock wildfire in the Linville Gorge. Recent rains have slowed progression of the fire, but concerns still exist over a section of uncontained line along the southern fire flank…North Carolina Forest Service personnel are assisting with land owner contacts and providing advice on how to improve defensible space. Fire size remains the same Tuesday morning, with 2,275 acres burned to date and 40 percent containment. No additional structures are threatened and no additional injuries or accidents to report. There are 193 personnel working on the fire and the Type 3 Incident Management Team will transition with the Type 2 Team throughout the day. …
“Apple growers harvest bumper crop amid labor, weather woes,” Hendersonville Times-News: Henderson County’s apple growers say this season’s bumper crop was almost the polar opposite of last year’s disastrous harvest, with ample production despite a labor shortage and a plethora of rain. …
“Final Fire: Battle Cheerwine & Cackalacky,” WRAL: The best of the best are in Raleigh this weekend. Competition Dining is bringing the heat, with one more weekend of high-stakes culinary adventures. Wednesday night, two of the state’s five hottest chefs squared off in Round One of Final Fire, the event that will crown the state’s Competition Dining champion.
Before we get into the food though, the finals have a whole new look. They’ve moved to a new venue, the Renaissance at North Hills, which is also the home kitchen for Fire in the Triangle champion Dean Thompson. Competition Dining founder Jimmy Crippen and his partners turned the hotel ballroom into much more than just another dinner. …