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.
- “Fish food: Aquaponics offers full-circle farming,” Smoky Mountain News: Tucked away along a squirrely offshoot of Jonathan Creek Road, Dennis “Bear” Forsythe’s 15-by-15-foot greenhouse is like his own private Eden. The small outbuilding in rural Haywood County holds 500 plants representing 58 species, everything from pineapple to pepper. “I just love doing it,” Forsythe said. “You have running water and it’s soothing, it’s relaxing. You come out here and you say, ‘I grew everything here from seed.’” The running water is a bit of an anomaly compared to most greenhouses. So is the complete absence of any soil. Instead of soil, the plants get their nutrients from the fish swimming in two separate fish tanks inside the building. Specifically, from their waste. It’s a method of agriculture that’s been gaining traction over the last decade or so, a method known as aquaponics. …
- “N.C. Mountain State Fair opens,” Asheville Citizen-Times: In its 21-year history, the North Carolina Mountain State Fair has followed an established course. But why should it change? Last year’s fair pulled a record crowd of 191,596, and if the weather holds out, the 2014 edition should equal that. The fair, Sept. 5-14 at the WNC Agricultural Center in Fletcher, is a feast for the senses. The fairgrounds are lit by colorful carnival rides. Booming pop music pours from speakers. Games line the midway. Vendors sell an assortment of tasty foods (this is no place to be on a diet). The Mountain Heritage Stage has live bluegrass, mountain music and dance. Agricultural and livestock exhibits are plentiful. Side show entertainment ranges from stilt puppets to sea lions and racing pigs. …
- “Ag Summary: September is Wine & Grape Month,” Southern Farm Network: September is wine and grape month in the Tar Heel State. One indicator of the industry’s maturity is the federal government’s recent designation of a fourth American Viticultural Area in the state. North Carolina’s grape-growing history dates to the late 1500s, when Sir Walter Raleigh’s explorers first noticed wild scuppernongs on Roanoke Island. North Carolina boasts more than 400 commercial grape growers. Muscadines are grown mainly in the East, while European-style vinifera grapes are grown in the West and Piedmont. While many of the grapes are used to make wines and other specialty products, there is also a significant fresh market for the fall fruit. In September and October, shoppers can find fresh, native muscadine grapes at farmers markets and roadside stands. …
- “Forest service seeks tree nuts and seeds,” Wilkes Journal-Patriot: The N.C. Forest Service office in Wilkesboro is seeking the public’s assistance in collecting acorns, hickory nuts and other nuts and seeds of trees to produce seedlings at the state nursery in Goldsboro. Michael Crouse, assistant county ranger with the forest service in Wilkes, said Thursday that he and other forest service personnel will gather tree nuts and seeds on private property with owner permission. The forest service doesn’t pay for what it collects. Crouse, seedling collector for Wilkes, said forest service personnel sometimes use non-motorized devices with wire mesh baskets, pushing them along on the ground, to collect nuts. He said church lawns often are among the best places to gather tree nuts. He said removing them also helps avoid accidents. Crouse noted that trees produce considerably more nuts and seeds some years than others. …
- “Couple’s dream turns into thriving cheese business,” Greensboro News & Record: Harold and Carol Penick were college students on their first date when they discovered that they shared a dream of building a farm.And now, nearly 40 years later, the two Auburn University graduates have not only worked to bring their dream to fruition, but also have launched a thriving goat cheese business. “We use a really old style of cheese making, so it’s different than anything else around,” their daughter, Jesse Penick, said. “It’s extremely creamy, very mild and very smooth — more like cream cheese — and people just can’t seem to get enough of it.” Situated on what used to be a tobacco farm, the 20-acre operation just north of Kernersville was nothing more than a meadow when the Penicks bought it three years ago, which inspired the farm’s name: Once Upon a Meadow. …
- “LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Elected leaders ignore farmers’ biggest concern,” Hendersonville Lightning: By most accounts, Henderson County’s 2014 apple crop is high in quality and lower in quantity. A shorter crop is not necessarily a bad thing. Last year, despite record rainfall that ruined most of the sweet corn and produce in the French Broad Valley, apple farmers harvested a bumper crop. And not just in Henderson County. It was a big year up and down the East Coast. When all the apples came off the trees, the market was flooded with cheap fruit. “We had two extreme variables last year,” recalled Edneyville grower Jerred Nix. “We had 45-cent Galas early and a half-a-cent juice at the end of the year.” …
- “Muscadines on the rise,” Wilmington Star News: It’s no secret that chefs, diners and home cooks have all embraced the farm-to-table and local food movements. And that trend may be just the boost that’s needed for one North Carolina agricultural product that’s more used to being the butt of a joke than served with a cloth napkin. “Some restaurants, a lot more lately, have gone to serving and cooking with muscadine wines, a lot more than five years ago,” said Jonathan Fussell, who owns the Duplin Winery with his brother David. “Our wines used to be one or two out of a hundred. Now it’s more like 15 to 20.” Fussell’s account is backed up by recent data tabulated by the North Carolina Muscadine Grape Association. “Over the past five years, the number of muscadine grape growers has increased exponentially,” said organization spokeswoman Ashley Graham Phipps. “People want to grow them for personal pleasure, and most of our growers have seen an increase in food use.” …
- “Looper numbers gaining in N.C. soybeans,” Southeast Farm Press: Remember that the threshold for soybean loopers (and all defoliating pests) is 15 percent defoliation throughout the canopy (thresholds and defoliation guide here). Loopers generally defoliate from the bottom of the canopy up so peel back those plants when you scout. Looper numbers have really picked up in soybeans. Loopers are migratory pests that sometimes show up late season and eat leaves, but not pods or seeds. Remember that the threshold for soybean loopers (and all defoliating pests) is 15 percent defoliation throughout the canopy (thresholds and defoliation guide here). Loopers generally defoliate from the bottom of the canopy up so peel back those plants when you scout. …