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.
- “Taming the dangerous – yet beautiful and profitable – castor bean plant,” The News & Observer: Novo Synthetix, a small biotechnology company in Research Triangle Park, is marshaling scientific resources statewide to create a nontoxic castor bean, which could provide a significant boost to North Carolina agriculture. Novo Synthetix – the brainchild of biochemist Donald Walters and molecular biologist David McElroy – was started in 2012 with a $50,000 startup loan from the N.C. Biotechnology Center. Their idea was to use a novel genetic engineering technology to create a nontoxic castor bean, in an effort to revitalize castor as a cash crop in the United States. The company won the Biotech Center’s Ag Biotech Entrepreneurial Showcase earlier this year, and last month, it was finalist in the Clean Tech Open Global Forum, in San Jose, Calif., which netted it a package that included cash and services worth up to $20,000. …
- “Rain hasn’t dampened NC Christmas tree sales,” WRAL: Christmas tree farmers at the North Carolina State Farmer’s Market in Raleigh say rainy weekends have dampened their overall sales. “(Sales) have been really good, except for the rainy weekends,” said Sheila Barrier, of B&H Farms. “Our weekends are our busiest times, and the rainy weekends – at least this Saturday, are just terrible.” According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, North Carolina has seen a steady decline in sales from 2008, when it brought in $100 million in sales, to $75 million the last two years. Bill Glenn, Christmas tree marketing specialist with the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, says he expects there was an overabundance of trees in the market a few years ago but that he expects sales to start showing an upward trend. …
- “NC Ag Commissioner Explains “Refocus” of NC Biofuel Research,” Southern Farm Network: This past legislative session, the General Assembly refocuses the states’ approach to bioenergy development. This necessitated the closing of the Bio Fuel Center – where do we go from here? North Carolina Ag Commissioner Steve Troxler: “There have been some things in the press that NC was not going to proceed with bioenergy development and that is not true. What they have decided to do is instead of putting the money into the non profit Bio Fuels Center of NC, they shifted that responsibility to NCDA&CS. …
- “Livingstone plans to restore 40-acre urban garden off Brenner Avenue,” Salisbury Post: Back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, it wasn’t uncommon for historically black colleges and universities to operate farms, and Livingstone College was no exception. Yet as the years passed and the agriculture industry began dwindling, the farm at Livingstone eventually stopped being maintained. But that’s about to change.In a historic endeavor that includes the SEED Foundation, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, the city of Salisbury, the N.C. Agriculture Commission and other businesses and organizations, Livingstone College is bringing back its farm. …
- “Asheville is sweet potato central” Asheville Citizen-Times: Beloved nearly everywhere south of the Mason Dixon, sweet potatoes are North Carolina’s state vegetable and a large portion of its agriculture — the state yields close to 40 percent of the nation’s entire production. A distant relative to the common potato, sweet potatoes are not part of the nightshade family, as are standard potatoes. The sweet tuber, a product of the plant’s prolific vine growth (which is also edible), works well to a buttery sauté and cloaked in cream. Thought to have originated in either Central or South America, sweet potatoes find perfect growing conditions in Western North Carolina: a temperate climate similar to the tuber’s native growing conditions. Traces of Peruvian sweet potatoes date as far back at 8000 B.C. …
- “Cold storage facility project gets boost with grant,” Wilmington Star-News: The company overseeing development of a cold storage facility at the Port of Wilmington says it has secured a critical grant for moving forward with the project. Chuck Schoninger, managing member of USA InvestCo, said the project was approved last week for an $800,000 grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation. “That triggered everything,” Schoninger said. “The whole thing was predicated on whether we’d get a ‘Golden LEAF’ incentive or not. …
- “French Broad River conservation project receives funding,” Hendersonville Times-News: An additional 680 acres on the North Fork of the French Broad River in Transylvania County will be protected after North Carolina’s new Clean Water Management Trust Fund allotted funding for the conservation project. During its Dec. 18 meeting in Raleigh, the board approved funding for 30 projects that will safeguard water quality, provide recreational opportunities, preserve important cultural sites and protect endangered species. Total funds allocated were $16.2 million. Funded projects included top priorities for the North Carolina Department of Parks and Recreation, Wildlife Resources Commission, North Carolina Department of Agriculture and the Department of Cultural Resources. …