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.
- “A firm development for crabmeat,” The News & Observer: Growing up on Roanoke Island, Gabe Dough was familiar with the delightful taste of the succulent blue crabs caught all along the Outer Banks. But he also knew that unless he was willing to take a crab pot out to Albemarle Sound, a meal of the tasty shellfish would take a big bite out of his food budget. The high cost – nowadays more than $30 a pound for steamed lump crab – is largely related to the meat’s delicacy. The meat must be cooked and then extracted by hand in a labor-intensive process that drives up costs and limits its use to a few high profile dishes. As a geology major at East Carolina University, Dough undertook a research project involving pheromones and remote sensing by blue crabs. His work along the coast helped him see the potential in developing a more efficient process that would allow coveted crabmeat to be used more widely. “The crab’s physiology makes getting to the meat difficult,” Dough said. “Unlike other meat proteins that now may come fresh or frozen, that hasn’t happened for the crab because the exoskeleton prevents it from being butchered before it is cooked.” In other words, raw crab isn’t as firm as other meats until it’s cooked; but cooking the entire in-shell crab makes it hard to extract the edible contents. Thinking about this problem led him to the development of a new “cold-structured” product – branded as Succulent Crab – in which fresh crabmeat is processed to achieve a more rigid structure without changing the taste. …
- “Farmers Work to Protect Strawberries from Cold Weather,” Time Warner Cable News: Strawberry farmers are taking extra steps to protect their crop as colder weather moves into the state this weekend. Overnight temperatures are forecast to drop below freezing for anywhere from four to eight hours. James and Bernie Kenan, who own Bernie’s Berries & Produce farm in Greensboro, plan to turn on sprinklers Saturday night once temperatures drop below 35 degrees. The water will help keep the strawberry blooms at a constant temperature, thus preventing freezing. “If you stop or your system fails or something or the other, then the temperature falls and if this bloom gets below 30 degrees, then it aborts and so, there goes your strawberries,” said James Kenan. The Kenans have had their farm for more than 30 years, but said they still feel anxious any time there is cold weather. They plan to stay up all night so that they can check the sprinkler system once an hour. Since strawberries are their most lucrative product, extra caution must be taken to avoid the financial challenges an aborted crop would bring. “It’s just that simple. This is our livelihood,” said James Kenan. …
- “Report Shows NC Agriculture Exports Growing,” North Carolina News Network: North Carolina is well known as an agricultural state. And as Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler says, a new report from the USDA on the value of our products shows that North Carolina’s reach is growing. “It confirms that North Carolina ag-products continue to be in demand across the world,” Troxler says. “The value of North Carolina’s exports for 2013 was more than $3.7 billion and that figure doesn’t even take into account the $1.5 billion that we’re exporting in forestry products.” Troxler says North Carolina is the 2nd largest exporter in the country when it comes to pork and poultry and the largest when it comes to tobacco. …
- “Cultivating a New Generation of Farmers,” Forsyth Tech Newsletter: On a cold late-winter Saturday in February, the Forsyth Tech Stokes County Center in Walnut Cove hosted more than 30 area farmers for a day of health and safety workshops. The first-ever Farm Health and Safety Institute featured sessions for farmers on large animal safety, emergency preparedness, personal protection and farm equipment safety, including dramatic demonstrations of a tractor rollover and a hay dummy getting caught in the spinning spikes of a power take-off shaft. Given that on a national level farming is now the most dangerous occupation, local safety demonstrations are becoming an important way to help keep farmers safe. …
- “Boeremas use ‘systematic’ approach to achieve top soybean yields,” Southeast Farm Press: For the Boerema family of Hyde County, N.C., finding ways to achieve top yields in soybean production is job one. “Our philosophy is to make it on the yield end of things rather than the cost cutting end of things,” explains Isaac Boerema, who has been farming with his dad Edward Boerema and uncle Dennis Boerema since 2003. “It’s worked well for us in the past and it continues to be our focus. We work to produce the most yield we can in the most efficient way possible for each acre.” In addition to soybeans, the Boeremas farm wheat and corn their farm near Pantego that was started by Isaac’s grandfather, Gerrit Boerema in 1958. To achieve maximum soybean yields and grow profits in soybeans, the family uses a systematic approach. …
- “Modest interest in leasing Guilford County Prison Farm,” Greensboro News & Record: Guilford County received seven lease bids for land at the prison farm, according to documents unsealed Monday. Several local farmers who are interested in renting land take the tour of the county property. The Guilford County Board of Commissioners will get information about the bids at its regular meeting tonight, but it’s unclear when the lease agreements might begin. …
- “Peterson Column: What restoring oysters would mean for NC’s economy, environment,” The News & Observer: Earlier this month more than 200 people gathered in Raleigh for an Oyster Summit organized by the N.C. Coastal Federation to share information necessary to develop an action plan for restoring and sustaining North Carolina’s oysters. Participants, including fishermen, scientists, local and state government leaders and oyster enthusiasts, recognized that revitalizing the oyster resource would simultaneously enhance estuarine health and the state’s economy. Annual oyster landings data from the late 1880s show how productive our coastal waters were for growing oysters. By the turn of the 20th century, oysters continued to provide a lucrative fishery with nearly a million bushels harvested each year. Since the 1902 peak in landings, the oyster population has been in a steep decline due to a confluence of factors – overharvesting, degradation of oyster reef habitat and mortality caused by the introduction of nonnative disease organisms. This oyster population decline, along with pollution-driven closures of shellfish waters, has led to harvest levels over the past 50 years remaining below 10 percent of historic highs. For 20 years, North Carolina has actively committed to reversing this trend. …
- “Our view: NC must do more to stem farmland loss,” Asheville Citizen-Times: Farmland is precious. North Carolina needs to do everything it can to stem the loss of land used to produce food. Between 2007 and 2012, North Carolina lost 2,695 farms and 100,000 acres of farmland. The state still has 50,218 farms and 8.4 million acres of farmland, but much of it is under pressure from development. “Not all farmland is created equal. The fertile, prime soils that build over time from flooding and deposit along stream corridors form some of the richest soil for producing abundant crops,” said Carl Silverstein, executive director of the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy. “Unfortunately, this relatively flat, accessible land is frequently lost to development. Accordingly, proactive efforts to conserve the remaining soils are needed.” While the problem is statewide, it is especially critical in the mountains, where only 2 percent of the land is classified as prime agricultural land. …
- “Cabarrus County collecting stories of African-American farmers,” Charlotte Observer: A Cabarrus County agency is collecting the stories of African-American farmers and workers who toiled to feed the early economy of the region. Resource Conservation Specialist Dennis Testerman and Resource Conservation Coordinator Hannah Hursey, of Cabarrus Soil and Water Conservation District, are collecting stories of African-American farmers in a way that will highlight their contributions. The history project has become part of a conservation education program. …