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.
- Let them eat vegetables, Durham Herald-Sun: At the South Durham Farmers’ Market, it’s a pleasure to see our youngest shoppers excited about local fruits and vegetables. And, we hope that their experience at the farmers’ market helps to instill lifelong healthy eating habits and a dedication to supporting local agriculture. To encourage this connection and with the help of many in the community, we have created the Children’s Corner at the market. …
- “USDA overhauls decades-old poultry inspections,” News & Observer: The Obama administration is overhauling poultry plant inspections for the first time in more than 50 years, a move it says could result in 5,000 fewer foodborne illnesses each year. Final rules announced Thursday would reduce the number of government poultry inspectors. But those who remain will focus more on food safety than on quality, requiring them to pull more birds off the line for closer inspections and encouraging more testing for pathogens. More inspectors would check the facilities to make sure they are clean. The changes would be voluntary, but many of the country’s largest poultry companies are expected to opt in. …
- Peachy keen season, Wilmington Star News: There’s a reason Roald Dahl didn’t pen “James and the Giant Pear.” Only one fruit is sweet enough for such a starring role. Now is the time to indulge in one of North Carolina’s best-kept secrets, with ripe fruit available through late August. We all love peaches’ top billing in cobblers, pies, ice creams and cakes, but they’re a versatile fruit that some say deserves a spot on the savory side of the menu as well. “I think the peach flavor really complements meat, pork in particular,” said Paige Burns, a horticulturist and peach enthusiast with the N.C. Cooperative Extension. …
- Milking camels for the next super food, Asheville Citizen-Times: Dr. Frank King is looking for the next super food on his farm north of Asheville. Against the backdrop of the Newfound Mountains, his herd of 300 majestic bison graze the rolling pastures — raised for their leaner, healthier meat. But Leicester is more than where the buffalo roam. The farm is also home to a herd of 23 camels — humped dromedary camels, familiar in tour shots of the Egyptian pyramids, and double-humped hairy Bactrians, native to Asia and comfortable in mountain cold. “Those are the animals that built the Great Wall of China,” King said. Now King hopes to build a new business on the camel’s milk. …
- NCSU researchers look at ways to make strawberry fields last longer, News & Observer: Strawberry fields may not be forever, but scientists at N.C. State University are trying to make them last longer. Amanda McWhit, a crop science doctoral student, is researching how to maintain soil nutrition in strawberry fields. The effort involves using a combination of crops planted in vacant soil to retain soil fertility and decrease erosion, as well as inserting a mixture of fungi and compost, known as an inoculate, into strawberry plants. …
- Good as Gold, Winston-Salem Journal: Tony Golding has always had a small-town sensibility. Growing up on a farm near Mount Airy, it was ingrained in him. Golding hasn’t changed one bit, not even as owner and founder of Golding Farms Foods, a large and successful condiments company that distributes its products to hundreds of grocery chains, mom-and-pop stores, and Walmart locations across the Southeast. He runs the company with the same personal touch he had when he bought it more than four decades ago. …
- Precision ag vital for increasing yields, meeting growing food demand, Southeast Farm Press: Precision agriculture tools such as Real Time Kinematic (RTK) satellite navigation will go a long way in helping farmers remain competitive, improve efficiency and increase yields as they work to feed a growing world population, says Sandy Stewart, director of the Research Station Division of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Speaking at a forum on precision agriculture held at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in Research Triangle Park on July 16, Stewart said that by 2050, the global middle class is projected to grow from 1 billion to 3 billion. …
- Greensboro Farmers’ Curb Market is thriving, Greensboro News & Record: It may be the liveliest 140-year-old in town. The Greensboro Farmers’ Curb Market, established in 1874, is thriving, with more programs, more events, more access and, most important, more customers. The Curb Market is always packed on Saturdays in the summer, but it has also doubled its attendance at Mid-Week Market on Wednesdays. A free Curb-2-Curb market shuttle runs between Renaissance Plaza on North Elm Street downtown and the market on Yanceyville Street. Since it began May 28, 120 downtown workers have caught the shuttle to shop during their lunch hour. …
- Swine Health Recommendations for Fair Season, Southern Farm Network: Fair season is just around the corner, and for pig exhibitors – vigilance is recommended to minimize disease. Pork Checkoff director of swine health information and research Dr. Lisa Becton encourages exhibitors to learn to identify a sick animal. “As they are coming into a show where they know they are going to show, if their pig is showing any kind of illness, whether it be a diarrhea or respiratory, its up to them and their parents to decide whether its appropriate to participate. …
- Appeals court upholds labels on meat packages, WNCT: A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld new government rules requiring labels on packaged steaks, ribs and other cuts of meat to say where the animals were born, raised and slaughtered. The meat industry has attempted to block the rules, which went into effect last year, saying they are costly and provide no health benefits to the consumer. …
- EPA/Corps/NRCS alliance spells trouble for farmers, Rep. Crawford says, Delta Farm Press: A “regulatory triad” composed of the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Corps of Engineers, and USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service holds the potential for a lot of headaches for agriculture, says Republican Rep. Rick Crawford, who represents Arkansas’ first district. At the heart of the problem, he said at the annual conference of the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation, are proposed changes to the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. “Both, if adopted, will have huge negative impact on your ability to produce the cheapest, safest, most abundant food supply in the world,” he said. …