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.
- “Workshop to offer advice for food businesses,” Burlington Times-News: Opening a food business and knowing how to run it are two different things. The state Department of Agriculture hopes to improve the odds for operators with a workshop, “The Business of Being in Business,” from 8:30 a.m. to noon Aug. 27 at the McKimmon Center in Raleigh. The session is open to existing food businesses, but only 30 slots are available. The session will focus on the nuts and bolts of running a food business, State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said. It will tackle basic issues such as trademarks and tax and business structure. “Learning the ins and outs of running a business can be a daunting task,” Troxler said in a news release. “If you plan on being successful in selling your product, then learning the difference between a corporation and a sole proprietorship, how to collect and pay sales tax, and registering a trademark are essential.” …
- “Photos: Smokey Bear’s 70th Birthday Party,” Hendersonville Times-News: Rose Pierce, 7, and Mark Barnett, 4, give Smokey Bear a big hug as they take part in Smokey Bear’s 70th Birthday Party at the Cradle of Forestry Saturday. Smokey Bear is the symbol of wildland fire prevention for 70 years, officials said.
- “Fresh produce crates available at Lowes Foods,” Greensboro News & Record: Shoppers can now get crates of locally-grown fresh produce at select Lowes Foods stores. More than 200 local farmers are participating in the Lowes Foods Carolina Crate program. …
- “If successful, Ebola serum is significant for tobacco’s future,” Greensboro News & Record: A small company owned by Winston-Salem-based Reynolds American is making an experimental drug that apparently is being used to treat two Americans infected with the deadly Ebola virus. The drug, called ZMapp, is made from modified tobacco plants grown by Kentucky BioProcessing, an Owensboro, Ky., company that Reynolds bought in January. …
- “USDA: Farmers market growth in N.C. among top 10 in the U.S.,” Triangle Business Journal: North Carolina is among the top states when it comes to the growth of farmer’s markets. That’s why the U.S. Department of Agriculture has launched a Farmers Market Directory, due to the continued growth of food hubs across the nation. North Carolina, ranked seventh in growth, has 240 farmers markets, compared to 182 in 2010, and 86 in 2004. …
- “Two horses die after contracting Eastern Equine Encephalomyelitis,” Jacksonville Daily News: One of two reported cases of Eastern Equine Encephalomyelitis (EEE) this year in North Carolina included a horse in Carteret County that was euthanized due to the disease, state officials said. Two horses have died after contracting Eastern Equine Encephalomyelitis within the past two weeks, state officials have confirmed. EEE is a mosquito-borne disease that is preventable in equine by vaccination. Both horses that died were unvaccinated, according to a news release issued Wednesday by the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. …
- “Like last year, expect Farm Aid concert to benefit N.C. agricultural sector,” Triangle Business Journal: Farm Aid concert organizers expect a sold-out show at Walnut Creek Amphitheatre in September. But the event’s Raleigh location won’t directly help North Carolina farmers financially. Farm Aid is a nonprofit organization that uses concerts featuring big-name artists Dave Matthews, Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp to raise money to promote family farming and access to locally grown foods. Among its activities, the organization provides grants to ground-level farming organizations throughout the country. It also occasionally grants money to individual farmers in crisis. Concert net revenues, which average $1.3 million to $1.5 million per show, go back into the organization’s general fund instead of being distributed in the locations where concerts are held, says Farm Aid associate director Glenda Yoder. The concert does, however, offer an opportunity for local farmers to display their work. The all-day concert event will feature concessions made with locally sourced ingredients and a tent village where attendees can view exhibits on soil, water and farming techniques like seed-saving. More than a quarter of the land in North Carolina is farmland. The state ranks seventh in the nation for farm profits, according to the 2012 Census of Agriculture. Last year, Farm Aid sent a total of about $28,000 to North Carolina organizations and farmers, representing about 5 percent of grant money distributed nationwide. Most of that went to Triangle-area organizations. Farm Aid provided a grant of $17,500 to Pittsboro’s Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA to provide financial counseling and mediation services to farmers, provide advocacy for farmers, and ensure fairness for farmers who contract with large-scale processors. …
- “Plant company to employ 125 in Mills River,” Asheville Citizen-Times: A collaboration between companies in the United States, Israel and Italy will result in 125 new jobs in Mills River at a facility that will graft vegetable plants for growers all along the Eastern Seaboard. The new company, Tri-Hishtil will build the grafting operation on 42 acres in Mills River, land it is buying from the Van Wingerden plant nursery operation. The project has been in the works for two years and brings together major players in the plant grafting and breeding, soil management and plant distribution. The plants produced will be disease resistant, reducing the need for chemical applications. The grafted plants are created in a manual process that melds the top of one plant with the root stock of another, and Tri-Hishtil plans to start in Mills River with tomatoes and watermelons. …
- “State laws deny public access to information on farm operations,” Winston-Salem Journal: Kathy Kellam would like to know which chicken farms are dealing with viruses near her home in Surry County. But she’s not allowed to find out. Last year, the General Assembly approved a confidentiality clause that keeps her – the general public – from finding out. The N.C. Farm Act of 2013 – or Senate Bill 638 – put a cloak over documents collected by the N.C.Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services that might reveal the identity of farmers dealing with animal viruses. …