North Carolina’s agricultural landscape is one of the most diverse in the country, and now researchers are exploring a possible new crop with the addition of tea. They’re working to evaluate tea plants or develop new plants – looking for ones that thrive in colder climates, deliver unique health benefits and serve double duty as … Read more
Could North Carolina farmers soon add a sunny new fruit to their fields and their bottom lines? That’s a question Dr. Jonathan Schultheis is trying to answer with an agricultural research project currently underway. As a professor of horticultural science at N.C. State University, Schultheis is exploring the potential that canary melons might be the … Read more
Chinese medicinal herbs are known for being a natural and holistic way to treat what ails you. As demand grows for those types of herbs in the United States, agricultural research is exploring how to help North Carolina farmers not only grow the herbs but grow them on a large enough scale to be a … Read more
“A little seed with big potential,” is how N.C. State University agricultural researcher Dr. David Suchoff often describes sesame and the possibility of growing more of the crop in North Carolina. After just a few years of research and growing test plots on the state’s research stations, Suchoff feels optimistic about sesame becoming a much … Read more
A research project that’s received funding from the NCDA&CS New and Emerging Crops Program is developing new varieties of hops for use in the state’s craft beer industry. Currently, the state’s breweries depend largely on hops grown in other states, but the North Carolina hops project aims to change that by breeding hops varieties that … Read more
Purple carrots may seem like a fantasy right out of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – a quirky little snack you’d only find by following a white hare down a rabbit hole. They’re no fantasy though. Instead, purple carrots are a reality at some research stations in North Carolina. They’re stars of some serious research to … Read more
