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.
- “Extension mission focus on farms,” Wilmington Star-News: Mention the words cooperative extension today and master gardeners, 4-H Clubs or great free advice may come to mind. Marking 100 years of existence this year, the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service delivers these services and a lot more. Advice for consumers and farmers have been part of the organization for a century, long before stormwater control and other programs emerged in recent years. The seeds for the cooperative extension trace back to Abraham Lincoln. The Morrill Act of 1862 set the stage for a national network of land-grant institutions including N.C. State and N.C. A&T. These schools created agricultural experiment stations. The research results were then shared with farmers. Previously, farmers had to rely on fertilizer sales people for advice. …
- “Christmas trees big business in N.C. mountains,” Wilmington Star-News: Christmas trees grown in North Carolina are already well on their way to stores and tree stands across the country. North Carolina ranks second in the nation behind Oregon in Christmas tree production, with trees grown mostly in the state’s mountains providing about 4 million trees worth about $1 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In the mountains of Mitchell County, Rodney Buchanan’s family tree farm starts preparing for the holiday in March and begins cutting trees in mid-November. He estimates his Buck’s Tree Farm will provide 50,000 Fraser firs to Boy Scout and church tree lots and other small operations. …
- “Checking for the right price at the cash register,” WGHP: State inspectors are making sure consumers are getting the prices promised in stores this holiday season. The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services checks prices on millions of items throughout the year, said Standards Inspector II Michael Beal. “We do a lot more seasonal items. Hams, turkeys, seasonal candies. Items the store typically does not carry throughout the year in large quantities,” he explained. Beal added, “We’re going in and we’re doing price audits. Checking for prices on the shelf. Making sure it matches on the shelf what it rings up for you.” He said most mistakes they find are due to a mechanical error, such as a broken scale, or to human error, such as a sale sign posted in the wrong location. “Nine times out of 10, these stores want you to tell them so they can get it fixed,” he pointed out. “Them deliberately ringing up the wrong prices is rare.” …
- “North Carolina enacts Venus flytrap theft laws: How big is the problem, really?” WUNC: Did you know that picking a Venus Flytrap in North Carolina can now land you two years in prison? The law, enacted earlier this week, is meant to protect the Venus Flytrap, a rare carnivorous plant that only grows in the wild in swamps near Wilmington. It’s estimated that there are only 35,000 plants remaining in the wild. The plant’s numbers have dwindled in part because of people stealing them from protected lands. …
- “U.S. continues to “chew” on excess peanut supplies,” Southeast Farm Press: The U.S. peanut market continues to wrestle against large production numbers from 2012, as producers wrap up harvesting this year’s crop, says John Michael Riley, Mississippi State University Extension economist. “The U.S. continues to chew on a large production number from 2012,” said Riley at this year’s Southern Region Outlook Conference in Atlanta. “We definitely cut back on the number of acres in 2013. And while we do have a buildup of stocks that we’re trying to work through, we actually saw an increase in acres this past year. So despite a lower yield in 2014, production could be about where it was last year.” By the first week of November, nearly 80 percent of the 2014 U.S. peanut crop had been harvested. In late October, 55 percent of the peanut crop was reported in good to excellent condition, about seven percentage points below the same time last year.
- “Wake Forest, Lowes Foods collaborate on analysis,” Winston-Salem Journal: Consumers at 10 Lowes Foods stores, including two in Forsyth County, are doing more than just grocery shopping as they walk down the aisles. Their shopping behavior is being evaluated in real time – which aisles they walk down, which product categories they linger over – in an analytical partnership involving the Winston-Salem grocer, a local RockTenn division and Wake Forest University School of Business students. The goal is giving the grocer and the display manufacturer better insight into shopping habits, while providing students with valuable real-world analytical experience, said Roger Beahm, executive director of the business school’s Center for Retail Innovation. …