Extension Online News

June 12, 2008

Guidebook to enhance artisan, agritourism trails

Ever dreamed of paddling down Greene County’s Contentnea Creek, shopping through the artwork of a chainsaw sculptor, visiting the humble Wayne County birthplace of Gov. Charles B. Aycock or attending the fall Muscadine Festival in Kenansville?

If you’re the type of tourist who longs to wander the back roads of North Carolina, seeking historic sites, artisans, farms and produce stands, and of course, the state’s finest barbecue, the new guidebook, Homegrown Handmade: Art Roads and Farm Trails, is not to be missed.

The guidebook was launched in June at an event in Greene County, which boasts a number of sites in the book. The book was created through a partnership of North Carolina Cooperative Extension and the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.

Five years ago, both groups asked the Golden LEAF Foundation for funds to develop a guide to both cultural arts trails and agritourism sites across Piedmont and eastern North Carolina. Golden LEAF asked the two groups to partner in their efforts, and Homegrown Handmade was born.

Cooperative Extension’s Southeast AgriCultural Toursim Task Force worked with the N.C. Arts Council to identify sites across 76 Piedmont and eastern North Carolina counties. Their efforts had resulted in the development of 16 driving trails across some of the state’s most scenic and rural counties. Until now, the trails were available only through the Homegrown Handmade Web site --
http://www.homegrownhandmade.com/ -- which required tourists to do some serious planning before embarking on a trail tour.

The book is available for $19.95 in retail book stories, through Web-based book sellers and Cooperative Extension county centers. It gives driving tourists the flexibility of leaving the Internet behind as they meander down country roads.

At the launch, several business owners described their experiences with Homegrown Handmade. Natalie Relyea, co-owner of Relyea’s Produce Patch and Crazy Claw Prawns, described how she and her husband had decided 18 years ago to diversify their tobacco operation into a produce operation. Recently, the couple received a grant to open the first prawn processing facility in the United States to support the growing region’s prawn industry. She expressed confidence that the guidebook would be a dream for both tourists and business owners.

“There’s nothing like riding in the country and seeing a green field with grazing cows,” she said.

Mary Betty Kearney of the Benjamin W. Best Country Inn and Carriage House and her husband have converted an historic home and carriage house into their business, the site of the guidebook launch. Visitors at the event also enjoyed another of Kearney’s products, hamburgers made from her family’s natural Nooherooka Angus beef.

She also described her term as a Greene County commissioner, working to convince fellow policymakers that the economic future of the county – once the state’s most tobacco-dependent – was tied to prospects for attracting and supporting new business enterprises. Today, a number of Greene County’s successful small businesses are featured in the Homegrown Handmade guide.

A podcast from the event is available on the N.C. Division of Cultural Resources Web site.

-N. Hampton

Posted by Natalie at 08:46 AM

May 22, 2008

Franklin farm tour draws 1,800

More than 1,800 visitors, some from as far away as New Mexico and California, attended Franklin County's fifth annual Farm, Foods and Crafts Tour May 17-18. The two-day event was to promote sustainable agriculture in the county, giving local farmers a showcase opportunity while boosting sales and embracing environmental stewardship. North Carolina Cooperative Extension was a partner in the event, along with Franklin County Arts Council, Franklin County Tourism Development Authority and the Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce. Whole Foods was a major sponsor for the event.

This was the first time the farm tour included the "LOCAL Food Festival" Saturday evening, with a local band providing country/bluegrass music. Chefs from six restaurants donated their services to prepare and serve local foods. The restaurants participating included: Q Shack in Raleigh/Durham (local natural Angus beef and chevon or goat); Edna Lee's Bakery (bread); Twin Sisters Catering from Chapel Hill (various local vegetables); Murphy House in Louisburg (beverage); Joey's Chophouse in Louisburg (local turkey and poultry); and Vollmer Farm Cafe (strawberries/lettuce salad; strawberries in chocolate). All foods were produced locally.

About 300 folks attended the food festival with a blanket or lawn chair for the picnic. Plates were full of local food. Locally made ice cream was provided by Lumpy's in Wake Forest.

Also, the "Farm Life" Photography Contest was held this weekend as part of the tour festivities. A reception and awards ceremony will be held from August 2 at Louisburg College Auditorium Gallery. Reporter Donna Smith captured the farm tour in her blog, which can be read at: http://donnacampbellsmith.blogspot.com/

Report courtesy of Martha Mobley, Cooperative Extension in Franklin County, and The Franklin Times

Posted by Natalie at 01:29 PM

May 14, 2008

CEFS gets publicity in Triangle publications

The Center for Environmental Farming Systems' NC Choices program was featured in a recent Triangle Business Article, "Technology would track food from farms to your table." NC Choices was highlighted in the May 12 issue.

In addition, the May 7 issue of The Independent included an article on local food, featuring Jennifer Curtis of NC Choices, Chatham County agricultural Extension agent Debbie Roos, Noah Ranells and his work at Breeze Farm, and Chris Reberg-Horton of the organic grains program. Read more in "The road to real food."

Related Independent articles from May 7:
"One missing link: Organic grains"

"Farmers helpers"

Posted by Natalie at 01:21 PM

February 26, 2008

Extension agents learn much from Uruguay trip

In December, a group of 23 students, faculty and Cooperative Extension agents traveled to Uruguay for a “Short Course on Organic Agriculture in Uruguay.” The trip was sponsored by the Center for Environmental Farming Systems, a research, teaching and extension program dedicated to sustainable agriculture.

The trip was a partnership between CEFS, the Universidad de la Empresa in Montevideo, Uruguay, and BIO-Uruguay International, a non-profit sustainable agriculture research and extension center in Tacuarembo, Uruguay.

The group visited a number of organic farms, as well as research centers of INIA, Uruguay’s agricultural research service.
Extension agents on the trip were Martha Mobley, Franklin County livestock agent; Tiffanee Conrad-Acuña, Richmond County livestock agent; Mary Helen Ferguson, Randolph County horticulture agent; and Kevin Starr, Lincoln County Extension director, with horticulture responsibilities.

All four said that through the study tour they had learned much about sustainable agriculture, made new connections with N.C. State faculty and other Cooperative Extension agents and renewed their interest in international extension work.

“The trip for me was very life changing,” Conrad-Acuña said. “I’ve never been exposed to organic agriculture before. After coming back from the trip, I have answered two questions about farms possibly turning organic and have taught one Hispanic farmer about composting horse manure for his pasture.”

Martha Mobley agreed that she learned more about sustainable agriculture and the resources available at N.C. State to support small farmers.

“I had the opportunity to speak with and interact with faculty members involved with various programming on campus that I had no idea existed, such as the wonderful sustainable agriculture program for the small farmer,” Mobley said. “The relationships that developed will be long lasting.”

Conrad-Acuña also connected with campus specialists who could provide information in the areas of meat processing and sustainable agriculture.

Kevin Starr commented on the similarities of sustainable production between Uruguay and the United States. “We witnessed a variety of partnerships among universities, INIA, BIO-Uruguay and farmers that are reminiscent of what is happening here in North Carolina,” Starr said. “Our big advantage (in the United States) is having Extension agents in the field.”

Mobley agreed. “Farmers and others in North Carolina are at a real advantage in having N.C. Cooperative Extension to provide information for a better way of life,” she said.

Mary Helen Ferguson was struck by how much growers in Uruguay have in common with growers in her own county. “It was interesting that growers there face many of the same issues as our growers do – erratic weather, labor shortages and disposal of plastic mulch for example,” Ferguson said.

During their trip, group members learned that – like North Carolina – much of Uruguay was experiencing a drought. While staying at BIO-Uruguay, they learned that the center was struggling with drought and was concerned with a shortage of water for crops.

“I was sort of hit in the face at BIO-Uruguay because we learned that if we didn’t conserve water while there, they would have to abandon their crops and several months of hard work,” Conrad-Acuña said. The experience made her realize how dire the consequences of drought could be in her own state.

Starr is looking into a squash variety – Zapallito de Tronco – that the group saw at a small organic farmers’ market and supermarkets in Uruguay. He believes that the variety could be grown in Lincoln County.

Prior to the trip, Ferguson had worked diligently on learning Spanish to help her serve the 9 percent of our county’s population that are Hispanic. After traveling in Uruguay, she felt her Spanish comprehension had improved. And the trip left her eager for more international experiences. “It did re-spark my interest in rural, international ag work,” she said.

Participants posted their insights and photos from the Uruguay trip in a Web log. To read more, visit: blogs.lib.ncsu.edu/page/uruguay.

This is project was supported by a USDA International Science and Education grant. For information about the program, visit www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/educationinternationalscience.cfm.

-N. Hampton

Posted by Natalie at 11:43 AM

February 12, 2008

Keeping the family farm in the family

Landowners seeking financial and technical help to diversify and manage their farms and forests so they can maintain, sustain or keep the farm in the family flocked to North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Wake County center recently.

More than 170 attendees at the third annual "Keeping the Farm" workshop on Jan. 30 learned about the state of working lands and development in Wake County, forestry, taxes, tax credits and estate planning.

Perhaps not surprisingly, three of the top five concerns attendees expressed related to taxation issues, while the other two regarded rules for qualifying for a small farm and how to find a successor to work the land.

“With the rapid growth Wake County is experiencing,,” said Grace Lawrence, Wake County Cooperative Extension agent for the environment, “there are many changes that can be exciting and, sometimes, overwhelming for landowners.

“Many people don’t realize there are 800 farmers in Wake County alone,” she said. “Working lands don’t just produce crops, they benefit everyone by preserving wildlife habitat, enhancing air and water quality and providing open space.”

Harold H. Webb, Wake County commissioner, introduced the session and Emmett Curl, Wake County revenue director and tax assessor, provided details on county taxation efforts and procedures.

North Carolina Cooperative Extension specialists and others, listed below, led breakout sessions that provided more details and addressed concerns voiced by attendees.

The sessions, listed with their coordinators’ specialties and affiliations:

Tax and regulatory issues for land: Dr. Steve Smutko, Natural Resources Leadership Institute director and Guido van der Hoeven, farm management and taxation specialist, both of the Agricultural and Resources Economics Department, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), North Carolina State University; and Mark Megalos, N.C. State Forestry Extension.

Frameworks for property decision-making and goal-setting: Carolyn Bird, CALS 4-H Youth Development and Family and Consumer Sciences Department; and Robin Landsman, Wake County assistant Extension agent for family and consumer sciences.

Working with resource professionals: Morris Dunn, Cooperative Extension horticulture agent, Wake County; Matthew Kinane, Natural Resource Conservation Service; Keith Miller, Wake County Farm Service Agency; Alton Perry, N.C. Forestry Service; and Mark Edmonson, Wake County Parks, Recreation and Open Space.

Updating estate plans: Dr. Ted Feitshans, CALS Agricultural and Resources Economics Department environmental and agricultural law specialist; and Andrew Branan, executive director, N.C. Farm Transition Network.

-A. Latham

Posted by Art at 01:26 PM

January 16, 2008

Remote control: A better way to survey swine lagoons

View a slide show of a remote-control boat used to survey swine lagoons

View a slide show with sound

Perhaps necessity is the mother of invention, but surely convenience and efficiency are aunts and uncles.

Consider a task North Carolina hog farmers call a "sludge survey." The North Carolina Division of Water Quality requires farmers who use lagoons to treat the waste created by their animals (the vast majority of North Carolina hog farmers use lagoons) do a sludge survey of each lagoon annually.

A typical sludge survey involves two people and a small boat, says Dan Bailey, a livestock agent with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service in Sampson County. It’s one of those, "There has to be a better way," scenarios, and Bailey and others appear to have found that way.

Lagoons are earthen pits. Waste is flushed with water from the barns in which pigs are housed to the lagoons, where it decomposes. The solid portion of the waste stream that is more resistant to decomposition sinks to the bottom of the lagoon, forming a layer of sludge.

To ensure that lagoons are operating correctly and have not filled up with sludge, farmers must certify annually that each of their lagoons contains at least 4 feet of sludge-free liquid treatment area. Most do this by rowing out into the lagoon in a small boat and measuring the liquid depth, either with a pole or a rope with a disk attached to one end. The pole or rope is let into the liquid disk first. The disk stops when it meets the sludge layer. The liquid depth can then be measured on the pole or rope.

It is this rowboat-in-the-lagoon method of determining the amount of sludge in a lagoon that Bailey and faculty members in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences began to ponder several years ago.

Rather than a rowboat, Bailey and colleagues proposed, how about a remote-controlled model boat? Bailey credits Mark Rice, a Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at N.C. State, with developing the first boat in 2003. Rice had the boat custom made and attached a sonar depth finder. The 3- to 4-feet-long boat could be operated from the bank of a lagoon while the depth finder recorded the liquid depth.

It worked well enough, but its propeller kept getting tangled in vegetation.

Bailey recalls, "I said, 'Mark, we need an air boat.'"

Rice responded with two words: leaf blower. It was a "eureka" moment.

Bailey, who describes himself as a fair carpenter, set about building an air boat. His first effort was made of wood and had a leaf blower mounted on the stern and a depth finder mounted on the bow. It worked well enough, but tended to leak a little.

He turned to 6-inch diameter white PVC pipe for his second effort. He arranged the pipe in a "U" shape with the bottom of the "U" upturned to form a prow. The leaf blower and depth finder are mounted between the legs of the "U." The result is a PVC-sludge-surveying pontoon boat.

When Bailey demonstrated his boats to Sampson County farmers, they apparently liked what they saw.

Glenn Clifton and James Lamb, employees of Prestage Farms whose duties include sludge surveys, liked the idea so much they built their own boat. The craft they came up with is made of aluminum, but like both of Bailey’s boats, it relies on a leaf blower for power and a depth finder to measure liquid depth.

Lamb said doing a sludge survey the old way required two people to load and unload a rowboat and drag it to a lagoon. Then it took 10 to 15 minutes to row out into the lagoon and do the 10 to 12 depth readings required.

Using a remote-controlled boat, Lamb does sludge surveys by himself. He said a typical survey takes about five minutes. Rather than 10 or 12 depth readings, the depth finder measures depth constantly, recording perhaps 2,000 readings. The depth finder records the readings on a computer memory card, so the data can easily be downloaded when the boat returns to shore. Software is available that produces a picture of the contours of the lagoon bottom. Because of the increased number of readings, Lamb thinks a survey done with a remote-controlled boat is considerably more accurate than one done manually.

At the same time, Curtis Barwick, who does sludge surveys for Coharie Farms, is using Bailey’s pontoon boat.

"It's so fast," Barwick says of the pontoon boat. "It saves a lot of time."

Barwick says he could survey five to six lagoons per day the old-fashioned way, while he can survey 12 to 15 lagoons in a day with the pontoon boat. With 80 to 90 lagoons to survey each year, Barwick adds, "It's just going to save so much time."

But efficiency notwithstanding, Lamb says the biggest advantage is what he calls improved safety. While he says he's never fallen into a lagoon, Lamb points out that rowing out into a lagoon in a small boat always presents that possibility. That alone would seem to be a huge selling point for remote-controlled boats.

Dave Caldwell

Posted by Dave at 10:16 AM

December 05, 2007

Commodity leaders tour research campus, nursery

A group participating in the Commodity Leadership Development Program recently toured the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis. The campus, which will house food and nutrition research programs of North Carolina universities, is being developed by entrepreneur David Murdock and the state of North Carolina. The commodity leaders are participating in a four-part workshop series dealing with negotiation, public policy and legal issues related to non-profits, as well as the research campus tour. The program is led by Lanny Hass and Eleanor Stell of Cooperative Extension's Personal and Organizational Development group. During the research campus tour, the leaders visited the core lab, under construction, that will house high-tech research equipment. The group also traveled to Mecklenburg County to visit Baucom Nursery, a large green industry operation.
-N. Hampton

Posted by Natalie at 05:15 PM

December 04, 2007

Person County workshops focus on local foods

Growers in north central North Carolina had a chance to learn tips on creating a local food system through a series of workshops sponsored by North Carolina Cooperative Extension. Carl Cantaluppi, horticulture agent for Granville and Person counties, and Mike Lanier, area agribusiness agent based in Orange County, teamed up in October and November to present the workshop series. Participants met in Roxboro for five consecutive Wednesdays. Workshop topics included: Buying locally to promote the local food concept, How the energy outlook is raising the stakes for local and organic food production, Staggered planting and season extension techniques, Organic vegetable production, and Starting and managing your produce enterprise: Marketing, post-harvest handling, insect and disease identification and control. The first session drew about 25 participants who learned how to sell local foods to grocery stores from representatives of Whole Foods and Weaver Street Market in Carrboro.
-N. Hampton

Posted by Natalie at 08:56 AM

November 28, 2007

'Putting Small Acreage to Work Conference' will be Dec. 8

As a result of increased interest in small-scale farming, Gaston County Cooperative Extension is sponsoring a "Putting Small Acreage to Work Conference." This conference will provide information for people interested in starting or expanding small-scale farm enterprises. Whether for profit or personal enjoyment, a new project should be carefully thought out.

The Dec. 8 conference presentations kick off at the Gaston County Police Department at 9 a.m., following registration at 8:30 a.m. The keynote speaker will feature Tim Will of Foothills Connect, speaking on creating a unique Internet-based produce market, aptly named Farmers Fresh Market, that links growers of locally grown fresh food products with Charlotte based restaurants and chefs.

Participants will explore alternative enterprises, learning from successful producers and university personnel who are already growing, producing and researching specialty crops and livestock. These experts will provide the practical, no-nonsense, hands-on advice growers will need when considering crop production, market development and other important business options.

Topics to be discussed include small fruit production, organic vegetable production, direct marketing freezer meats; beef and pork, meat goat production; bee keeping, agritourism, CSA and subscription sales, medicinal herbs, and pasture systems.

Class sessions will start promptly after registration. The program will include one general opening session and three breakout sessions. Three topics will be discussed concurrently during each of these breakout sessions. Participants will receive lunch and resource materials for all sessions. Fees for the conference are $20 per person or $30 per couple before Dec. 3.

Registration information for the conference is available at: http://gaston.ces.ncsu.edu/ or by contacting Lara_Worden@ncsu.edu or 704.922.2118.

Posted by Natalie at 03:55 PM

November 27, 2007

Jordan, Brandenburg work with peanut growers in Ghana

At a typical agricultural field day in North Carolina, the crowd would be largely men wearing John Deere caps. But in Ghana, West Africa, the farmers you’ll find at a field day are mostly women, some with young children.

Such field days scenes are not unusual to Dr. Rick Brandenburg, William Neal Reynolds Professor of Entomology, and Dr. David Jordan, peanut specialist in crop science, both in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Brandenburg and Jordan have been involved for more than 10 years with the Peanut Collaborative Research Support Program in Ghana, a program of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

In that time, they have seen increases in peanut yields, which are significant for the country’s subsistence growers who rely on peanuts as a primary source of dietary protein. And the knowledge they’ve gained working with growers in Ghana has direct benefits for growers back in North Carolina.

“Since it is subsistence agriculture in Ghana, we’re trying to bump them out of that. In one of the villages where we work, they’ve really made big strides. They’ve doubled and tripled their yields; they’ve increased their acreage,” Brandenburg said. “But Africa’s a place of extremes, and life is not easy there.”

The USAID Peanut CRSP is managed by the University of Georgia, with partner universities working in locations around the world. The College’s involvement in the program goes back to the early 1980s and has included leaders such as Dr. Johnny Wynne, peanut breeder and now dean of the College; Dr. Tom Stalker, former head of the Crop Science Department; and the late Dr. Jack Bailey, professor and Extension plant pathologist.

Other College leaders have included Dr. Tom Isleib, crop science professor; Dr. Robert Moxley, sociology and anthropology professor, Bill Campbell, emeritus professor of entomology; and Marvin Buete, emeritus professor of plant pathology.

Brandenburg began work with the program in Southeast Asia in 1989, and in 1996, he was asked to work with the project in Ghana. Jordan joined the project in 2002, following Bailey’s death.

The N.C. State researchers work with two research centers in Ghana, the Crop Research Institute in Kumasi to the south, and the Savanna Agricultural Research Institute in the north. Despite some initial ambivalence about the assignment, Brandenburg says the experience has been wonderful.

“One of the biggest challenges (for the scientist at these institutes) is that they have such limited resources with which to fund their research. That’s what the Peanut CRSP is all about. We team up with them, and we find good scientists. We’re fortunate in Ghana, the scientists have really been good at doing quality research,” Brandenburg said.

Through the Peanut CRSP, USAID provides funding and experts like Brandenburg and Jordan to support Ghana’s research and extension efforts. The two institutes team up with rural villages to conduct field demonstrations and involve local farmers in deciding which production strategies are most useful for them.

“They’ve really taken it upon themselves, once they test a strategy at the research station, to get it out to the farmers,” Brandenburg said. “They get the village chief to donate them a field, and they travel every two weeks to the site. And the farmers see what they’re doing; the farmers are intimately involved.”

Farmers are eager to come to the field days, and for their participation, they receive a day’s wage – about one U.S. dollar – as compensation for giving up a day’s work. After three years of regularly attending the field days, farmers are awarded a certificate from the Peanut CRSP, a valued achievement in rural Ghana.

Growers in Africa face so many challenges and have so few resources to fight back. So finding cost-effective production and pest management strategies is the challenge of the researchers. Leafspot, for instance, is one problem that Ghana’s peanut farmers face, but unlike U.S. farmers, they don’t have chemicals to combat the disease.

“Their big step forward is that they can actually take homemade soap and spray the peanuts with it, and it will suppress the disease; not a lot, but it helps,” Brandenburg said. “Well if they could just insert one application of fungicide early in the season, it would make a huge difference. But the farmers don’t have the money to go out and purchase it. If they did, their yields would increase, and they could put money aside for next year to purchase fungicide. But they face the challenge of getting out of that cycle of just getting by.”

Weed management is another important issue to these farmers, who do all their weeding by hand. “They spend like half of their life weeding fields. So weed management and practices that minimize weed production is just a huge thing. If you could cut their weeding time in half, you’d free up 25 percent of their time,” Brandenburg said.

Jordan said that there is a big difference between developed countries and developing countries in terms of farmers’ ability to try new technologies or production strategies. In the U.S., growers trust that new technologies have been thoroughly studied, and there are safety nets available for those willing to take a risk on something new.

“In developing countries, their lives are shaped by the predictability of what they’ve been growing for a long time,” Jordan said. “If we make a mistake there, the consequences are much greater.”

An important challenge for Africa growers is trying to achieve consistent levels of production, rather than highs and lows. “You have to really search for a plan that flattens those peaks and valleys out,” Brandenburg said. “A record year one year, and a record low yield the next, is the worst situation they can be in. If there’s a disaster, the impact is huge.”

Research on peanut-related problems has also benefited growers in North Carolina. In fact, about half of the funds received from the Peanut CRSP stay in North Carolina and are used to support graduate students or to supply resources needed to address peanut issues in the state. One example of a direct benefit occurred when tomato spotted wilt virus threatened peanuts, and the Peanut CRSP was able to quickly fund a graduate student to work on research related to the problem.

Both Jordan and Brandenburg are passionate about their work in Ghana, a passion that has extended to their families. Brandenburg took his 15-year-old daughter Ashley on a recent trip to the country. And researchers visiting from Ghana enjoyed a traditional North Carolina dinner at David Jordan’s family home near Edenton.

Jordan, who first came to N.C. State as an undergraduate, recalls that his interest in international research and extension began while he was a student in Dr. Bob Patterson’s popular class on World Population and Food Prospects.

“After beginning my career at N.C. State, the idea of international agriculture, learning and assisting developing countries was something I was very interested in, but it still seemed a challenge in terms of finding a way to be involved,” Jordan said. “The Peanut CRSP opened that door for me 15 years after I first thought that it would be neat to be involved in that type of work.”

Now, Jordan has opportunities to lecture in Patterson’s class and describe his work to today’s undergraduates. He finds that many of them also are interested in international development. “The hope is that they will not forget what they see in this class, and they may be involved in similar work two, five, 10 or 20 years down the road,” he said.

-N. Hampton

Posted by Natalie at 01:56 PM

November 20, 2007

Roos named CFSA 'Agent of the Year'

Debbie Roos, Chatham County agricultural agent, received the Agent of the Year Award for North Carolina Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Programs from Carolina Farm Stewardship. Roos is recognized nationally for her work promoting small farms and healthy farm ecosystems and for her award-winning Web site, "Growing Small Farms." Carolina Farm Stewardship Association serves both North and South Carolina in its efforts to promote sustainable agriculture practices.

Posted by Natalie at 09:00 AM

November 06, 2007

Field days still pull in crowds

Field Days are a North Carolina tradition. This year, the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences set 18 field days at N.C. State locations and research stations from Waynesville to Castle Hayne.

Click here for a listing of all 2007 field days.

Here’s a little field day history and a wrap up of a few activities at this year’s field days.

Read more from Perspectives

-A. Latham

Posted by Art at 03:03 PM

College celebrates feed mill grand opening

More than 300 people celebrated the grand opening of the new Feed Mill Educational Unit in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University. Representatives of the feed milling, swine and poultry industries, as well as university officials, faculty, staff and students, gathered Wednesday, Oct. 31, for a day-long celebration that included tours of the feed mill and a dedication ceremony.

The Feed Mill Educational Unit, a hands-on learning laboratory of the college's Departments of Poultry Science, Animal Science, and Biological and Agricultural Engineering, will provide opportunities for students to learn the principles and methods of feed manufacturing. The facility is one of only two teaching and research mills in the nation, and the only one on the East Coast.

Read more from the Communication Services news release

-S. Stanard

Posted by Natalie at 02:57 PM

October 26, 2007

Nominees sought for 'Small Farmer of the Year Award'

Do you know an exceptional small farm business man or woman? Why not nominate him or her for the 2008 Gilmer L. and Clara Y. Dudley Small Farmer of the Year Award! Now is your chance to embrace and applaud that farmer's accomplishments. The award will be presented during the 22nd Annual Small Farms Week recognition which is March 30 – April 5, 2008.

This award will be presented on Wednesday, April 2, 2008, during the Small Farmers Appreciation luncheon. The award recipient will receive a plaque, a Small Farmer of the Year jacket and $1,500.

The Gilmer L. and Clara Y. Dudley Small Farmer of the Year Award recognizes a North Carolina small farmer who is:
* A creative innovator in his or her production (livestock and/or crop) and marketing strategies;
* A leader, involved in contributing time and other resources to build their communities;
* An environmental steward who protects and enhances the earth's resources; and
* A savvy and wise business man or woman who runs a farm business in an entrepreneurial and enterprising manner.

Read more or submit a nominee

Posted by Natalie at 08:33 AM

October 19, 2007

Moyer receives research and education award

Dr. James W. Moyer, head of North Carolina State University’s Department of Plant Pathology, received the Society of American Florists’ (SAF) 2007 Alex Laurie Award for Research and Education on Sept. 27 at the annual Industry Awards Dinner during SAF’s 123rd Annual Convention in Palm Springs, Calif.

The Alex Laurie Award, established in 1948, is presented annually to an individual who has made significant contributions to research and education in the floriculture industry. The award is named for Alex Laurie who, throughout a career that spanned more than 60 years, laid the groundwork for research that revolutionized the floriculture industry and who left a lineage of students, teachers and researchers continuing to provide the information necessary to ensure the industry’s future.

Active in both teaching and research on viruses affecting floral and vegetable crops, Moyer’s expertise is recognized and relied upon worldwide. In the 1980s, Moyer discovered the existence of a new virus, the impatiens necrotic tospovirus (INSV), which others had assumed to be merely a strain of the tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV).

The INSV became extraordinarily important to the floriculture industry because it is spread by the difficult-to-manage Western flower thrips.

“Dr. Moyer has improved our industry by developing critical knowledge of viruses and genetic engineering,” says Margery Daughtrey, senior extension associate with Cornell University’s Department of Plant Pathology. “Of equal importance, he has always been available to the flower industry, offering his considerable expertise and good counsel.”

Moyer’s work on the biology of INSV supplied research that was the basis for developing test kits industry members use to diagnose INSV. He has continued to investigate both INSV and TSWV, conducting research to help solve growers’ problems, and is currently investigating ways that viruses are able to adapt to new hosts and to overcome resistance in plants.

Posted by Natalie at 02:09 PM

October 09, 2007

Local food is focus of workshop

Agents and growers are invited to a five-part workshop series on local foods, to be held in Person County beginning Oct. 17, and continuing on Wednesdays through Nov. 14. All sessions will be held at the Person County center of North Carolina Cooperative Extension.

The workshop series has been organized by Carl Cantaluppi, area horticulture agent for Person and Granville counties, and Mike Lanier, area agribusiness agent based in Orange County. A registration fee of $25 covers the entire series, including lunch for the first session and a notebook of materials.

"There has been a growing interest among farmers, consumers and grocery chains in promoting and marketing locally grown foods. Farmers who grow and market locally provide a fresher product to the consumer, compared with food that is grown in distant areas and shipped in," Cantaluppi says.

The first workshop will be held noon to 3 p.m. and will include a lunch of pasture-raised chicken, grown by Bailey Newton of Triple B Farms in Bullock. The workshop session, entitled "Buying Locally to Promote the Local Food Concept," will include guest panelists from Whole Foods and Weaver Street Market in Carrboro.

To register, contact Cantaluppi at carl_cantaluppi@ncsu.edu or 336.599.1195.

The other workshops and speakers are:
Session 2, Oct. 24, 10 a.m. to noon
How the Energy Outlook is Raising the Stakes for Local and Organic Food Production
Mike Lanier

Session 3, Oct. 31, 1-3 p.m.
Staggered Planting and Season Extension Techniques
Steve Moore, Center for Environmental Farming Systems, Goldsboro

Session 4, Nov. 7, 1-3 p.m.
Organic Vegetable Production
Alex Hitt, Peregrine Farms, Graham

Session 5, Nov. 14, 1-3 p.m.
Produce Enterprise: Marketing, Post-Harvest Handling, Insect and Disease Identification and Control
Carl Cantaluppi

Posted by Natalie at 10:51 AM

September 20, 2007

Fall Festival held at Center for Environmental Farming Systems

On average, the food most people in Wayne County will sit down to eat tonight, will have traveled about 1,500 miles to reach their plates.

At the Center for Environmental Farming Systems at Cherry Research Farm on Saturday, though, visitors had the opportunity to buy and eat food from a little closer to home.

Hosting their second annual Fall Festival, officials at CEFS said they were pleased at the turnout, estimating that more than 1,000 people took advantage of the warm, sunny day to come learn a little bit about farming and the importance of eating local.

Read more from The News-Argus

Posted by Natalie at 02:04 PM

September 15, 2007

Harnett County hosts large animal rescue workshop

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At a Harnett County farm, a small group of volunteers maneuvers around a horse that has fallen from an overturned horse trailer. Careful not to injure the animal, they place straps under and around his body to pull him to safety.

Though the horse and volunteers are real, the situation is actually a technical large animal rescue training organized by North Carolina Cooperative Extension in Harnett County, along with Harnett County Emergency Management, County Animal Response Teams of Harnett and Cumberland counties and the N.C. Farm Bureau.

The training, held in May, was the second one organized by livestock agent Tyrone Fisher and the other partners. The event attracted 45 hands-on trainees, along with 10 auditors from across the state and even across the state line. The group included animal control officers, Cooperative Extension professionals, first responders, horse owners, veterinarians, fire fighters and paramedics.

During the three-day training, trainees participated in drills and exercises designed to prepare them for training and assisting other rescue personnel with removing large animals from mud, high water, an overturned trailer and more.

The professionals who conduct the training, Tomas and Rebecca Gimenez, use their own live horses, and a llama, that have been trained to cooperate as part of the training. The mud-rescue drill is performed with a “horse mannequin” because the live horses learned to shun the mud pits created for training.

“Participants can take this type of training back to the counties where they reside or work and use it as mutual aid,” said Tori Miller, 911 dispatcher in Harnett County and animal welfare officer.

“If they have knowledge from this training, they can respond with the emergency responders or with the veterinarians and assist in an emergency. They can actually teach other people in their county certain techniques that they have learned in this training.”

Once they’ve gone through the rescue training, these individuals will be equipped to assist with animals stuck in mud, hurricane situations, barn fires or large animals in overturned vehicles, Miller said.

A number of trainees in the class represented County Animal Response Teams. The teams are called to help with both small and large animals in the event of an emergency.

Melissa Brunner, an agricultural technician with the Onslow County CART, said her county near the North Carolina coast often has to activate when hurricanes are approaching. The group works with the American Red Cross to set up small animal shelters at sites designated as Red Cross emergency shelters. The CART-provided shelter allows evacuees to bring their pets with them when they are forced to leave their homes.

Brunner says her team has not been called on to perform large animal rescue operations. But now in the middle of hurricane season, she feels it is only a matter of time.

“We can take this information back and start up our large animal group,” she said. “I have a feeling that it is imperative to know this information. You never know when you’ll need to use it.”

Fisher says accidents involving horses getting mired in mud or slipping into rivers or streams are fairly common, especially in the Piedmont where there are numerous trail riding opportunities exist on private farms. Trained CART volunteers are helpful to rescue personnel who encounter these situations.

“We’ve had several situations along the Cape Fear River where animals have fallen into the river and because of the steep bank, animals could not get out of the river,” Fisher said. “So our volunteers have shown up and assisted in the situation and resolved it with the training like what they received today. You’ve got to know where to put the belts on the animal, where to hold the animal properly. If lifted in the wrong place, the animal can fall out or be injured.”

There is a four-step process involved in creating a CART group, Fisher says. The steps are 1) initiation; 2) committee formation; 3) writing a plan; and 4) completing tabletop exercises. Many counties have begun the process, but have not had a CART certified.

The State Animal Response Team has a database of 100 individuals trained in technical large animal rescue, but more are needed, Fisher says. Although the Eastern counties are well aware of the hurricane threats, counties even in the West have experienced floods and other disasters in recent years that can pose problems for large animals.

“All of North Carolina needs to be covered with CART teams,” he said.

-N. Hampton

Posted by Natalie at 01:39 PM

September 07, 2007

Drought management for agricultural producers

Cooperative Extension has undertaken a coordinated effort to compile the latest information available to help farmers make the best decisions possible in coping with the worst drought in several decades. The severe rainfall deficit this summer coupled with an early spring freeze has caused a tremendous shortage in feed for livestock and large yield losses in corn and soybeans. A recent survey of 63 counties in North Carolina estimated that an additional 800,000 round bales of hay will be needed to feed the beef and dairy cattle in the state during the normal winter feeding period. This hay is not available without significant transportation cost, which makes it financially unrealistic for most operations.

Read more from The Lincoln Tribune

Posted by Natalie at 01:53 PM

September 05, 2007

Chapel Hill chef wins first goat cookoff

Chef Josh De Carolis, center, from the Ju Jube in Chapel Hill won the first North Carolina chevon cookoff held in Sanford last month as part of the second N.C. Goat and Sheep Roundup. The cookoff was held at the Lee County Fairgrounds, and roundup participants had the opportunity to taste the dishes prepared by Triangle-area chefs. De Carolis created three goat dishes from a half-carcass provided by Steve Mobely of Meadow Lane Farm in Louisburg.

De Carolis's creations included coconut and curry braised goat with black-eyed pea and corn ragout, marinated goat chops and new potato green bean salad with Sriacha aioli and cilantro pesto, as well as a goat sausage and heirloom tomato crepeinette with Thai basil.

Other goat dishes included:
From Lilly's Pizza of Raleigh, goat meat lasagna.
From Foster's Market of Chapel Hill, Caribbean barbecued cabrito and mango cabrito sausage.
From the Weathervane of Chapel Hill, mustard braised goat meat with sambuca creamed onions.

Others competing included: Enoteca Vin chef Aaron Vaughn, and Piedmont Restaurant chefs Drew Brown and Andy Magowam of Durham.

Judges for the event were Dan Campeau, area poultry specialist; Dr. Jean-Marie Lughinbuhl, associate professor at N.C. State University in charge of the goat program.

Posted by Natalie at 10:50 AM

August 13, 2007

Agricultural agents present awards

North Carolina Association of County Agricultural Agents recognized agents who have provided outstanding programs during the association’s annual meeting June 20 in Southern Pines.

The Distinguished Service Award is given to five agricultural agents who have demonstrated outstanding service in their counties or area. Nominees for this award must have at least 10 years of service and be members of the agents’ association. Each winner receives a plaque and financial support to attend our national meeting and professional improvement conference held in Grand Rapids, Mich., in July.

Those receiving the Distinguished Service Award include:
· Marjorie L. Rayburn, area agent for Gates, Chowan, and Perquimans counties, received the Distinguished Service Award. She has served as an agricultural Extension agent since January 1991.
· Linda Blue of Rowan County, who has served as an agricultural Extension agent for 20 years.
· Ralph Blalock Jr. of Edgecombe County, who has been an Extension agent for more than 28 years.
· Dalton Dockery of Columbus County (soon to be Bladen County's Extension director) has led the horticulture, forestry, and pesticide education Extension programming efforts for more than 11 years in North Carolina.
· Allan Thornton of Sampson County has worked for North Carolina Cooperative Extension for 14 years.

The Achievement Award is given to agents from across the state for the purpose of recognizing those Agents who have less than ten years of experience and who are doing an exceptionally good job. Winners are:
· Diane Turner of Henderson County.
· Debbie Roos of Chatham County.
· Kevin Johnson of Wayne County.
· Kelly Groves of Vance and Warren counties.

The association’s Young Agent Scholarship Award was presented to Tiffanee Conrad-Acuna for providing outstanding programs as a member of this Cooperative Extension professional association. This recognition supported her attendance of the national meeting of this professional association in Grand Rapids, Mich., recently.

Conrad-Acuna is a livestock agent in Richmond County, who started work Cooperative Extension in 2003 as an area livestock agent serving Robeson, Scotland and Hoke counties.

Posted by Natalie at 09:13 AM

August 09, 2007

Not horsing around: enthusiasts ride out new ideas

(Reprinted with permission from The Franklin Times.)

The heat and attendance were as high as the passion for horses this past Saturday as equine enthusiasts gathered for the 13th annual Franklin County Horse Farm Tour.

More than 100 people attended this year’s event, receiving a tour of three horse farms noted for their diversity.

A caravan of about two dozen cars snaked their way through the county, stopping first at Paradox Sport Horse located off U.S. Highway 401 south of Louisburg.

The barn-in-progress is a project by Dr. Barbara Burggraaff. The stop also featured a horse-jumping demonstration.

The second stop showcased Barbara Robison’s handmade farm in Youngsville, some new fencing and no-till seeding of pastures.

The third stop highlighted Earl Haga’s Blossom Farm, a new facility for lease on Timberlake Road. It also featured some tips from Dr. David Green, a large-animal veterinarian.

Also, Youngsville businessman E. Carroll Joyner introduced a new horse bedding that is being tested at several Franklin County farms. He plans to develop the product in coming months.

“The farms showcased a variety,” said Cooperative Extension Agent Martha Mobley. “We had the really expensive ones to the ones made from a carport. You see $50,000 horses, and they’re still happy and safe in a converted carport. And we had the handmade barn to the custom pre-fabricated farm.

“It just gives people a bunch of new ideas,” Mobley said. “It’s a chance to showcase new farms and facilities and learn from others.”

It was that opportunity that brought Jamie Colley and his wife, Julie, from their Raleigh home to Franklin County’s horse farm tour.

Julie Colley has been taking riding lessons for about a year and is considering getting her own horse. She said she wanted a better idea of the type of responsibility it takes.

“I’ve been thinking about it a while,” she said. “With this tour, you get to ask questions and find out what’s involved. That’s what is so good about this.”

Mobley figured it was that sort of inquisitiveness that brought the crowd out to tour horse farms in temperatures that approached 100 degrees.

“It was a fabulous turnout,” said Mobley.

The tour concluded with a pig-picking lunch at Joyner Park in Louisburg.

-Carey Johnson, Times Staff Writer

Posted by Natalie at 08:36 AM

July 27, 2007

USDA announces action plan to address bee colony disappearance

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2007 - U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics Gale Buchanan today announced that USDA researchers have finalized an action plan for dealing with colony collapse disorder (CCD) of honey bees. The plan can be read at www.ars.usda.gov/is/br/ccd/ccd_actionplan.pdf.

"There were enough honey bees to provide pollination for U.S. agriculture this year, but beekeepers could face a serious problem next year and beyond," Buchanan said. "This action plan provides a coordinated framework to ensure that all of the research that needs to be done is covered in order to get to the bottom of the CCD problem."

Read more

Posted by Natalie at 02:03 PM

July 26, 2007

CEFS draws Carlo Petrini for inaugural lecture

Building and supporting a local food system in North Carolina was the theme in May as the Center for Environmental Farming Systems hosted Carlo Petrini at its inaugural lecture on sustainable agriculture. Petrini is founder of Slow Food International, a movement that promotes local food systems and encourages relationships between growers, chefs and consumers.

Petrini, who lives in Italy, visited N.C. State University and the Triangle area as part of a six-stop tour of the United States. In addition to his speech at N.C. State, Petrini enjoyed a picnic dinner at the Chapel Hill Creamery and a reception with supporters prior to his speech. Both events featured locally produced foods prepared by Triangle chefs.

Petrini started Slow Food in the 1980s to protest efforts to bring a McDonald’s restaurant to Rome. Today Slow Food International has 80,000 members around the world, including 14,000 in the United States, dedicated to supporting local foods and local farmers. The organization defends food biodiversity, educates people about food and builds food communities.

Interest and awareness of local foods has grown in recent years. A recent Time magazine article advised, “Forget organic. Eat local.” Prize-winning author Barbara Kingsolver has written a new book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, chronicling her family’s effort to eat only locally produced food for one year. And the number of farmers’ markets in the U.S. has doubled since 1999.

Next May in San Francisco, Slow Food will kick off a year-long campaign, “Slow Food Nation” aimed at promoting local food systems. CEFS director Nancy Creamer, in her opening remarks at the lecture issued the challenge, “Over the next year, CEFS will ask, ‘What will it take to build a local food system in North Carolina?’”

Petrini, who speaks Italian, was translated by Slow Food U.S.A. director Erika Lesser. He brought the N.C. State audience of about 850 a message from his new book “Slow Food Nation” – that food should be good, clean and fair, raised in ways that are sustainable for the environment, local economies and communities.

Slow Food International has developed two universities dedicated to the science of gastronomy. Petrini explained his definition of “gastronomy” as more than just recipes.

“We must have a different concept of gastronomy,” Petrini said. He quoted 19th century author Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, whose book The Physiology of Taste asked the question, “What is gastronomy?”

“It’s everything that regards man and his nourishment,” Petrini said. “And so the list begins: agriculture, zoology, physics, chemistry, economics, history, anthropology, and … even … ‘political economy.’

“So as you can see, we are confronted by a complex and multidisciplinary science,” Petrini said. Students in Slow Food’s gastronomy programs study biology, anthropology, genetics, animal and plant production and “the noble science of nutrition.
They also learn how to cook,” Petrini said.

Today, gastronomists must also study ecology – a science that didn’t exist in Brillat-Savarin’s time, he said.

Petrini described a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization that found intensive agricultural production to be one of the greatest threats to the world’s environment. “So this shows us that gastronomy must also be ecology,” he said. “The choices that we make in what we eat will ultimately determine the ecosystem in which we live.”

Petrini urged consumers to become “co-producers” with farmers, becoming aware of where and how their food is raised.

“We in Italy get our tomatoes from China because they cost less. But it’s not true that they cost less because that airplane that flies (bringing the tomatoes to Italy) is consuming energy. And this is the enormous paradox of expending more energy than what we receive in return.

“And indeed food is not as good as it used to be. Those of you who are of my generation, you remember what peaches used to taste like – they didn’t taste like wood. And you remember the smell of a tomato…”

He described the “perfume” of fresh, local tomatoes being processed into sauce in courtyards of homes where he grew up in Italy – an aroma that is not found there today.

Petrini also urged the audience to support small-scale farmers by buying local. “We’re losing farmers. In 1950 in Italy, half of the workforce was in farming, and now we have only 4 percent. In the U.S., we’re at barely 2 percent (in agriculture),” he said.

“We have to give hope and inspiration to young people to stay on the land and to work on the land with dignity and with financial incentives, but also cultural and social recognition. Otherwise what future do we have?

“And so we need a huge campaign to return the rightful place of small-scale agriculture and to re-localize agriculture, and to elevate the value of farmers staying on the land because they will help us save the land. Local economies are what will save the world.”

The night before Petrini’s speech, about 400 people including chefs, farmers and picnic goers, enjoyed a sold-out dinner in Orange County, sponsored by N.C. Choices, a CEFS-sponsored program that promotes sustainable pork production; Slow Food Triangle, and South Eastern Efforts Developing Sustainable Places Inc. or SEEDS. The crowd dined on a variety of dishes created by the Triangle’s best chefs paired with local farmers and their products.

“The atmosphere was warm, relaxed and delicious,” said Jennifer Curtis of N.C. Choices. “Everyone remarked on how wonderful the food was at this event. Farmers and chefs were part of the party and celebration.”

Children enjoyed a tour featuring the creamery's animals -- dairy cows being milked, pigs being fed the whey (leftover from milk after making cheese), and the chickens – as well as a pea shelling contest and egg toss. Traditional music was provided by Chatham County’s own Kickin’ Grass. Those who attended hope the successful event will be repeated. Other picnic sponsors included Haw River Wine Man, A Southern Season, Weaver Street Market and the creamery itself.

CEFS supporters enjoyed the chance to meet Petrini before the speech and have him sign copies of his books at a reception held at N.C. State’s Joyner Visitor Center. Dean Johnny Wynne of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences introduced Petrini at the event.

-N. Hampton

Posted by Natalie at 02:30 PM

June 29, 2007

Client praises Amy Thomas for service

Consumers are quick to complain to others about an organization that has disappointed them, but not so quick to compliment those who go above and beyond the call of duty to serve clients. But Mary Joe Hanes, a cattle operator at the Hawk Farm in Stokes County, is an exception.

Hanes was so impressed with the service she received and the relationship she has developed with North Carolina Cooperative Extension livestock agent Amy Thomas that she wrote a three-page letter praising Thomas last fall to Dr. Jon Ort, director of North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. In her letter, Hanes described the many ways that Thomas has helped Hanes’s operation and contributed to a revived cattle industry in Stokes and Forsyth counties where Thomas has served for two years.

“In all my years of producing livestock in Stokes County, I have never utilized Cooperative Extension as I am now,” Hanes wrote to Ort.

Hanes is exuberant in describing her relationship with Thomas. When Thomas first came to Stokes County, Hanes received a letter from her about cow-keeping forms she had to share. When Hanes responded that she was interested, she expected to receive more information by mail.

One day while working on the farm, Hanes looked up to see Amy Thomas’s truck coming up the drive. “I had no idea she would come out. She just dropped by and introduced herself,” Hanes said.

Right away, Thomas began helping the Haneses with their operation. She taught them to take pregnancy test samples from cows, helped them get into a class on artificial insemination and helped them make decisions about animals to cull from their herd.

“Anything we came up with, Amy had an answer for – any direction we wanted to go,” Hanes said.

Thomas said she was surprised to learn of Hanes’s complimentary letter to the head of the Cooperative Extension Service. She acknowledges that she has a good relationship with and respect for Hanes.

She describes her job responsibilities as most livestock agents would – working with goat and cattle operators, helping with artificial insemination, breeding, selection and pregnancy, and working with local youth who show livestock.

Thomas helped introduce the Haneses to youth livestock showing. Last summer, she helped organize a show calf clinic at Hanes’s farm to train youth through a mock livestock show. “The youth were able to experience what the show ring might be like and receive a gentle critique from Amy as to their showmanship skills and cattle-handling abilities,” Hanes wrote to Ort.

Hanes was most touched at the way Thomas interacted with Mike, who Hanes described as a mentally and physically handicapped adult who competed in a special class in the livestock show. “For the cattle show, Amy’s husband Charlie brought one of their most gentle heifers for Mike to show. I wish you could have seen him in the ring with this beautiful heifer and the giant smile on his face when Amy awarded him his blue ribbon,” Hanes wrote.

Hanes said that the attention that Thomas gave to Mike illustrates her commitment to people. “Amy is here for everybody, and she treats everyone well,” Hanes said. “It doesn’t matter how trivial your need is, she’s ready to help.”

For Thomas, it’s all in a day’s work. “I try to do as much as I can. With two counties, it’s hard to do hands-on,” she admits.
Hanes also credits Thomas with reviving the local cattleman’s association. And the clinics Thomas offers to livestock producers have been well received. That level of service, Hanes says, is very important to farmers.

“I want state administrators to understand how important it is to those of us trying to stay in this business,” Hanes said.

Thomas grew up on a farm and is now married to a farmer, so she appreciates how important a livestock agent’s help can be. “I don’t see how anyone can be a good agent and stay in the office,” she said. “It’s not feasible in all cases, but it’s a disservice to livestock producers if Extension agents can’t get out to the farms.”

-N. Hampton

Posted by Natalie at 01:50 PM

Ducharme hosts farmer mentoring program

Diane Ducharme, an Extension agriculture agent working in Henderson, Haywood and Buncombe counties, has A&T Extension’s Farmer-to-Farmer Mentoring Program in high gear this summer. Three farms near Asheville — Thatchmore, Full Sun and Flying Cloud — have been lined up to host a series of programs on Mondays, from 4 to 6 p.m., through Aug. 30.

Workshop topics will cover farm management from site selection to post-harvest handling. Well-experienced farmers as well as those completely new to the profession are welcome. Each workshop is a stand-alone, so participants can pick dates and topics that match personal schedules and interests. The registration fee is $5 per class.

Read more from ag e-dispatch

Posted by Natalie at 08:29 AM

June 27, 2007

Cheese school pays off for Gibsonville dairy

In a gleaming workroom of a Gibsonville dairy farm, Jackie Gerringer and four employees work six days a week, making three types of farmstead cheeses. Each week, the Calico Farmstead Cheese Co. turns 3,000 gallons of milk into traditional Mexican cheeses marketed in North Carolina and neighboring states.

Like many small cheesemakers, Gerringer and her family are new to the business. But their marketing savvy and a growing consumer demand for fresh cheese has provided the Gerringer dairy with a new source of income.

Jackie Gerringer was among the first cheesemakers to participate in a Hands-On Farmstead Cheesemaking Short Course, developed by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Food Science Department.

The workshop helped her understand the food safety issues, labeling and regulatory requirements involved in cheesemaking, as well as how to get started in the business.

“It was just really a good experience,” Gerringer said.

In the Food Science Department, Gary Cartwright, food science pilot plant coordinator, and Dr. MaryAnne Drake, food science assistant professor, are among those who have put on the Farmstead Cheesemaking Short Course in December of each year since 2004.

The course started in spring 2004 as a processing short course and in December of that year, the hands-on workshops began. Cartwright credits Dean Johnny Wynne with having the vision to offer the training through the College.

“Dean Wynne saw that there was a need to empower farmers who were interested in doing this and doing it the proper way, the legal way, and helping them stay on the family farm. He asked Dr. Drake and I to support this kind of the program, so we garnered funds from Golden LEAF, Southeast Dairy Foods Research Center and North Carolina Agriculture Foundation. Their generous support -- and the dairy processing plant located here in the Food Science Department -- made the program possible,” Cartwright said.

Since the workshops began, Cartwright says that 83 individuals from 34 North Carolina counties – and from several other states – have participated in the training. The workshop is offered in late November or December to accommodate goat dairy operators because the dairy goats do not produce milk that time of year.

The workshops deal with many aspects of cheesemaking, including a roundtable discussion with successful local cheesemakers, Cartwright says. “This is not just to educate farmstead-interested people on how to do it. It’s to educate them on whether they want to or not,” he said. “So they get a good taste of the technology involved, the labor involved, and then we also hit the economics and regulatory parts involved.”

Safety is emphasized in the cheesemaking workshops. “What makes a good cheese is sanitation, sanitation and sanitation,” Drake said. “What makes it your cheese could be the type of cheese you make, it could be how you position your product, could be your label. It could be any one of a number of things.”

“What makes a good cheese for someone trying to stay on the farm is making it economically successful. You can make the best cheese in the world, but if you don’t have a market for it, you’re not going to make it for long,” Cartwright said.

The workshops emphasize the importance of cheesemakers having a plan to market their cheese. In a survey of workshop participants who go into cheesemaking, Cartwright says that all of them underestimate how much time it takes to market and sell cheese.

Jackie Gerringer says she had no illusions about her sales abilities when it came to cheese. “I am not a sales person,” she says. “We knew we couldn’t sell because we didn’t have time. I could give you give you cheese all day long, but I couldn’t sell it.”

Fortunately, the Gerringers have had good partners in developing their cheese business. Several Mexican employees in the dairy first suggested that the make Mexican-style cheeses. Employee Juana Beltran taught Jackie Gerringer to make quesa fresca, a cheese Beltran learned to make from her mother.

Juana’s husband Manuel was eager to take on the role of marketing the cheese. Each day he fills his coolers and sells cheese to tiendas that cater to Mexcians living in North Carolina and sells direct to consumers at the Buckhorn Flea Market in Mebane. Two other distributors sell their cheese in Virginia and the Charlotte area.

Though it took time for the Gerringers to perfect the cheesemaking process and develop a processing facility, they now make three cheeses – quesa fresca, panela and requeson (ricotta) – under the name Tia Anna’s Cheese.

Food scientist Drake says that the Southeast dairies are in decline because of competition from other areas of the country. “The way dairy production occurs, we cannot compete with the Southwest and the West Coast. That’s reality – we just cannot compete production-wise,” Drake said. “But we do have niche markets here and throughout the Southeast for artisan and farm-raised and organic and small-scale, specialty value-added dairy products.”

The Gerringers got into the cheese business after the tobacco buyout. Tobacco income had supported their dairy, but after the buyout, they needed to find a way to make the dairy profitable.

And cheese has been just the ticket, Jackie Gerringer says. “The cheese has more than made up for the tobacco income. Sometimes we think, ‘well, why didn’t we do it earlier?’” she said. But the family realizes that the knowledge they needed, the help and the market for the cheese might not have been there before now.

For the Gerringers, the dairy – started in 1949 by Larry Gerringer’s parents -- is really a family affair. Larry, Jackie’s husband, is up by 4 a.m. each day to sanitize equipment for the morning milking. Workers milk the Gerringers’ herd of 200 Holsteins and Jerseys twice each day. Milk that is not used for cheese goes into milk production.

Their daughter Anna Amoriello (CALS ’89, animal science and agricultural education) manages the herd health, breeding and calving.

Six days a week, Juana Beltran comes in about 9 a.m. to place labels on cartons that will hold that day’s cheese. Jackie Gerringer, Beltran and three other workers make cheese from around noon to about 5 p.m.

They’ve come a long way from their early cheesemaking days when production went on from about 3 p.m. until after midnight. “My first efforts at making cheese would have made a good bouncy ball for my grandchildren,” Jackie said.

The Gerringers are thrilled with their success, and Jackie says she would like to learn to make other types of cheeses. “But right now, I’m busy,” she said.

This year’s Hands-On Farmstead Cheesemaking Short Course will be held Nov. 28-30. For more information, contact Gary Cartwright at gcart@ncsu.edu or 919.513.2488.

-N. Hampton

Posted by Natalie at 09:54 AM

June 01, 2007

Agriculture secretary names 47 N.C. counties for disaster aid

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns has designated 47 North Carolina counties as disaster areas, following an April freeze that devastated a number of the state's early crops. The counties received the designation of "primary natural disaster area" following crop damage assessments by the Farm Service Agency.

Counties receiving the disaster designation are:
Alexander, Alleghany, Anson, Ashe, Avery, Bladen, Burke, Cabarrus, Chatham, Chowan, Cleveland, Cumberland, Davidson, Duplin, Gaston, Gates, Greene, Halifax, Haywood, Henderson, Hoke, Hyde, Iredell, Jackson, Lenoir, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Mitchell, Montgomery, Moore, Nash, Northampton, Onslow, Orange, Pender, Perquimans, Polk, Richmond, Rockingham, Rutherford, Sampson, Stanly, Union, Watauga, Wayne, Wilkes and Yadkin.

Additional counties received the designation "contiguous disaster counties." They are:
Alamance, Beaufort, Bertie, Brunswick, Buncombe, Caldwell, Camden, Carteret, Caswell, Catawba, Columbus, Craven, Dare, Davie, Durham, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Franklin, Guilford, Harnett, Hertford, Johnston, Jones, Lee, Macon, Madison, Martin, McDowell, New Hanover, Pasquotank, Person, Pitt, Randolph, Robeson, Rowan, Scotland, Stokes, Surry, Swain, Transylvania, Tyrrell, Wake, Warren, Washington, Wilson, Yancey.

Farm operators in both primary and contiguous counties eligible to be considered for low-interest emergency loans from FSA, provided eligibility requirements are met. FSA will consider each application on its own merit by taking into account the extent of losses, security available, and repayment ability. Local FSA offices can provide affected farmers with further information.

Posted by Natalie at 02:53 PM

May 30, 2007

Asparagus Twilight Meeting to showcase new varieties

Those interested in learning about growing and marketing asparagus are invited to come to an Asparagus Twilight Meeting on Thursday, Aug. 16, 6 p.m. at the farm of Garnett Carr, 982 Flem Clayton Rd., Roxboro.

The meeting is designed to showcase the quarter-acre variety trial plots and compare the 13 different varieties grown on the Person County farm by disseminating the research results from the first harvest season. Asparagus is a high-value vegetable crop that is easy to grow, has high consumer demand and needs to be promoted in the South.

Carl Cantaluppi, area horticulture agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension in Granville and Person counties, will talk about site and soil considerations for growing asparagus, as well as fertility requirements; insect, disease and weed control; harvesting and marketing techniques; costs associated with growing the crop and more. An asparagus planting will be demonstrated using a middlebuster or lister plow to open a furrow and plant dormant one-year old crowns (roots).

People will be encouraged to ask questions throughout the presentation. Door prizes will be on hand and cold drinks will be provided.

From Roxboro, travel about three miles north on NC 57. Turn right (east) on Flem Clayton Road. Go about half a mile a mile until the road ends. The asparagus plot is on the right.

-C. Cantaluppi

Posted by Natalie at 01:00 PM

May 21, 2007

Alum contributes expertise to improve campus, state water quality

Last December, on a tree-lined terrace above Rocky Branch Creek on N.C. State University’s campus, two men monitored the progress of several groups of trainees and their instructors below. Darrell Westmoreland, stream restoration and wetlands mitigation expert, was on the job.

He and Dr. Greg Jennings, Biological and Agricultural Engineering (BAE) professor at N.C. State, watched a multi-ton North State Environmental Inc. (NSE) trackhoe carefully repair part of the Rocky Branch stream restoration project damaged by last June’s Tropical Storm Alberto.

Westmoreland, a 1991 BAE graduate in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, co-owns NSE. Jennings, a licensed engineer and water quality specialist who leads “River Course” classes for BAE’s Stream Restoration Program, also heads North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Watershed Education Network.

The heavy equipment operator they observed exhibited a delicate touch on this environmentally sensitive job, no problem for carefully hired and specially trained NSE operators. Westmoreland’s employees are noted for their ability to handle 30-ton tracked excavators or bulldozers in mid-channel, positioning rocks, logs and dirt to create natural-looking streams and banks without disrupting a site.

Water quality engineers appreciate NSE operators’ finesse.

“Darrell’s operators are all skilled, patient experts, who are not afraid to get out of their equipment and use their hands and feet to make sure things are built properly. They have a set of chest waders in every cab,” says Dan Clinton, a 1997 BAE alumnus, former Rocky Branch design team member and River Course instructor, and now a Town of Cary storm water engineer.

North Carolina’s streams are familiar habitats to Westmoreland.
With his wife, Stephanie, he founded the Winston-Salem-based NSE in 1994 to repair and restore waterways to their natural state through specialized channel design and installation services. Stephanie is NSE president; Darrell, project manager and vice-president. He handles field operations, stream restoration and wetlands mitigation, job estimating, equipment scheduling, and maintenance and field personnel management.

Despite the responsibilities and busy schedule, the company provides a dream job to Westmoreland, an outdoorsman who likes to fish any stream he has restored to make sure it supports aquatic life.
Westmoreland is noted not only for his efforts to preserve our environment, but also for his dedication to N.C. State.

The Westmorelands have provided at least $20,000 worth of in-kind donations to the Stream Restoration Program and other College water-quality efforts, Jennings says. They’ve been involved with five training workshop-related projects in Raleigh, Brevard and Purlear, near North Wilkesboro.

Workshop receipts supported the Rocky Branch restoration work during SRP’s three-day certification training as part of a hands-on training program. Instructors included Westmoreland, Jennings, Clinton and N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Ecosystem Enhancement Program staff.

During training, 55 construction contractors, consulting engineers, regulatory agency employees and others visited a multi-faceted real-time water flow demonstration area that NSE had constructed earlier at N.C. State’s Lake Wheeler Road Field Labs. NSE also constructed storm-water research ponds on Centennial Campus for N.C. State’s water quality group, headed by Extension specialist Dr. Jean Spooner, also of BAE, who directs the College’s Soil and Water Environmental Technology Center.

“The Lake Wheeler area is unique,” Clinton says. “No other place in the country has a full-scale outdoor stream construction demonstration project for educational purposes, and Darrell helped build it.”

At Rocky Branch, class participants learned specific techniques and erosion control methods applicable to this type of construction. For instance, students spent 45-minute field rotations observing Westmoreland’s red-T-shirted workers use heavy equipment to install root wads and boulders in an Alberto-damaged stream bank. A group of his workers also installed a brush mattress, while others seeded and planted the stream bank with native riparian vegetation for bank stabilization.

Now in its 12th year, NSE was honored by Equipment World Magazine as 2006 NSE national Contractor of the Year. The same year, the nonprofit Soil and Water Conservation Society honored the company for outstanding efforts and achievements toward the society’s goals of “fostering the science and art of natural resource conservation.”

As evidenced during the December N.C. State restoration job, Westmoreland’s on-the-job streamside attention to detail pays dividends. “The Rocky Branch work was well done,” he says. “The rock and log structures and the channel held up, despite a major precipitation event after we finished the job.”

—A. Latham

Posted by Art at 09:35 AM

May 09, 2007

Petrini is speaker for CEFS lecture

Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food International, will speak at North Carolina State University’s McKimmon Center at 7 p.m. May 23, during a rare United States appearance. Petrini will discuss the meaning and value of preserving food traditions, defending biodiversity and protecting food that is good, clean and fair.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is the Center for Environmental Farming Systems’ Inaugural Sustainable Agriculture Lecture. It will be part of a two-day celebration with Petrini, “Farm-to-Fork: A Celebration of Local Foods and Local Farms,” in the Triangle May 22-23.

The Center for Environmental Farming Systems is a research, teaching and extension center in Goldsboro focused on sustainable agriculture. CEFS is a partnership of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University, North Carolina A&T State University and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Prior to the lecture, Friends of CEFS will host a private benefit reception with Petrini at the N.C. State University Visitor Center, 1210 Varsity Drive, adjacent to McKimmon Center, from 5-7 p.m. Friends of CEFS is a non-profit organization for those who support CEFS’ commitment to a sustainable future for agriculture. For information regarding CEFS benefit and reserved lecture seating, contact Lisa Forehand, 919.513.0954, cefs_info@ncsu.edu or the Web site, www.cefs.ncsu.edu

For more information about CEFS, local foods or sustainable agriculture, contact Dr. Nancy Creamer, 919.515.9447 or nancy_creamer@ncsu.edu. Creamer is a professor of Horticultural Science at N.C. State and CEFS director.

Background for Media
Through a number of efforts, North Carolina Cooperative Extension has been instrumental in bringing local growers and consumers together. Through farmers’ markets, community-supported agriculture programs, farm tours and other arrangements, Extension has worked to develop local food systems across North Carolina.

Since 1999, the number of farmers’ markets across the United States has doubled as consumers’ interest in local foods grows. Local food systems provide consumers with fresh, locally grown products, while providing growers with an accessible market for their products. Information about the Slow Food movement in the Triangle is available at http://www.slowfoodtriangle.org/.

To learn more about how Cooperative Extension has increased the availability of local foods in the Triangle, contact the following Extension agents and specialists

Moore Square Farmers’ Market, Raleigh
North Carolina Cooperative Extension professionals were instrumental in helping establish this market last year.
Carl Cantaluppi, Extension agent for Granville and Person counties, 919.603.1350 or carl_cantaluppi@ncsu.edu
Morris Dunn, Extension agent, Wake County, 919.250.1117 or morris_dunn@ncsu.edu
Theresa Nartea, Extension agribusiness and marketing specialist, N.C. A&T State University, 336.334.7956, ex. 2109 or tjnartea@ncat.edu

Creedmoor Farmers’ Market
Carl Cantaluppi, extension agent for Granville and Person counties, has helped establish this market (Saturdays, beginning May 19).

Wake Forest Farmers’ Market
Morris Dunn, Wake County Extension agent, helped the market vendors acquire tents to enhance the market’s appearance.

Holly Springs Farmers’ Market
Morris Dunn and Theresa Nartea helped the town survey citizens’ desire for a local farmers’ market. Holly Springs’s first farmers’ market will open this spring.

Smithfield Farmers’ Market
Johnston County’s Cooperative Extension center has been involved in establishing a farmers’ market in downtown Smithfield that is open now (Fridays).
Amie Newsome, Extension agent, 919.496.3344 or amie_newsome@ncsu.edu

Pinehurst Farmers Market
Cooperative Extension in Moore County worked with First Health Moore Regional Hospital to create the new market in the heart of Pinehurst, with about a dozen vendors who sell fresh produce, flowers, herbs, jams and jellies (Mondays, 3-8 p.m.).
Taylor Williams, Extension agent, 910.947.3188 or taylor_williams@ncsu.edu

NC Choices
Affiliated with CEFS, NC Choices promotes sustainable pork production and helps develop direct markets. Triangle area producers can be found at the Web site http://www.ncchoices.com/farmers_piedmont.htm
Jennifer Curtis, project manager, 919.967.0014 or jencurt@mindspring.com

Community-Supported Agriculture programs
Extension has been instrumental in developing Community-Supported Agriculture programs for two local employers and more recently for a Wake County master-planned community. Bedford at Falls River teams with the Vollmer Farm of Bunn to host a CSA for residents. The employers who established CSAs with extension’s help are:
Research Triangle Institute, started by CEFS: http://www.rti.org/csa
Duke University: http://www.hr.duke.edu/farmersmarket/mobile_market.html
Theresa Nartea, Extension agribusiness and marketing specialist, N.C. A&T State University, 336.334.7956, ex. 2109 or tjnartea@ncat.edu

Chatham County’s “Growing Small Farms” Web site
Extension agent Debbie Roos reaches out to local growers through her award-winning Web site “Growing Small Farms.” The site offers information for growers on production, marketing and more. Roos also is involved with three local farmers’ markets in Pittsboro, Fearrington and Siler City.
http://chatham.ces.ncsu.edu/growingsmallfarms/
Debbie Roos, 919.542.8202 or debbie_roos@ncsu.edu

Durham’s SEEDS and DIG programs
Specialists at N.C. A&T State University worked with this community garden and education program that sells produce at the Durham Farmers’ Market.
Robert Williamson, Extension natural resources specialist, 336.334.7956 or robertw@ncat.edu
Ellen Smoak, Western District Coordinator, 336.334.7956 or smoak@ncat.edu
Lucy Harris, SEEDS executive director, 919.683.1197

Franklin County Farm Foods & Crafts Tour (May 19-20)
Franklin County’s Cooperative Extension center has been involved in this tour, which introduces consumers to local farms, since in began four years ago.
Martha Mobley, Franklin County Extension agent, 919.496.3344 or martha_mobley@ncsu.edu

Marketing efforts for beef and goat meat
Franklin County Cooperative Extension was instrumental in establishing two organizations to market sustainably raised beef and goat meat.
Franklin County Natural Beef, http://www.buynaturalbeef.us
NC Meat Goat Producers, Inc., http://www.ordergoat.com
Martha Mobley
--N. Hampton

Posted by Natalie at 09:01 AM

May 07, 2007

Workshop to focus on safe produce handling, liability

A workshop for commercial fruit and vegetable growers that will focus on safe food handling and legal liability issues will be held May 15 at the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Person County Center in Roxboro.

The workshop is designed for fruit and vegetable growers who sell their produce at farmers’ markets and through pick-your-own operations. It begins at 5 p.m. with registration and dinner and ends at 9 p.m. The workshop cost is a $15 per person, which includes the meal. The event is sponsored by North Carolina Cooperative Extension.

Titled “Profitable Produce: A Workshop on Legal Liability and Handling Food Safely,” the workshop will feature presentations by Dr. Lynn Turner, a professor of food science at North Carolina State University, Shirley Outlaw of the North Carolina Farm Bureau, and Ted Feitshans, an extension specialist in agricultural and resource economics at N.C. State University. Turner will talk about good agricultural practices and food safety, while Outlaw will discuss liability insurance, and Feitshans’ topic will be legal issues and direct marketing.

Registration and other information is available from Carl Cantaluppi, area extension agent-horticulture, at 919.603.1350 or carl_cantaluppi@ncsu.edu or from Annette Dunlap, extension associate, value-added and alternative agriculture, at 919.515.5969 or annette_dunlap@ncsu.edu. Information is also available on line at extension’s value-added and alternative agriculture Web site, http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/value-added/

The Person County Extension Center, where the workshop will be held, is at 304 S. Morgan Street, Roxboro.

North Carolina Cooperative Extension is an educational agency supported by county governments, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and N.C. State and North Carolina A&T State universities. County agents, backed by specialists at the two land-grant universities, conduct educational programs related to agriculture and forestry, family and consumer sciences, 4-H, community and rural development and other issues.

Posted by Dave at 01:02 PM

April 16, 2007

Leadership lessons learned through program

What do Brazil and California have in common with North Carolina agriculture? This winner, a group of 32 agricultural professionals recently visited both places to learn lessons they will need to lead North Carolina agribusiness into the future. The group members are part of a two-year leadership training program offered by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The young growers and agricultural professionals, who represent the full spectrum of North Carolina agriculture, began the Agriculture Leadership Development Program in fall 2005. In January and February, group members participated in two educational tours to learn leadership lessons from Brazilian agriculture and, closer to home, California agriculture.

The program is a newer version of the College’s former Philip Morris Agricultural Leadership Development Program, which was open to tobacco growers. The new leadership program, sponsored in part by Tobacco Trust Fund, Golden LEAF, North Carolina Farm Bureau and a number of North Carolina commodity organizations, is open to all types of agricultural professionals.

Leadership for the program included veterans Dr. Bill Collins of N.C. Agricultural Research Service and Dr. Billy Caldwell, associate director emeritus of North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. Dr. Lanny Hass and Eleanor Stell of North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Personal and Organizational Development group also served as organizers and trainers for the program.

The program strives to build leaders by teaching them to manage and lead issues and giving them the skills they need to compete, Hass said. The training focuses on the mastery of self, relationships and finally, social action.

"This program has provided effective leaders in a number of areas who have been successful in relating agricultural interests in the policy-making process," said Collins, who has worked with the program since 1986.

"We’ve seen growth in personal identity capabilities of participants to deal with issues more effectively and become leaders on behalf of agriculture,” Caldwell said.

The trip to Brazil gave the leaders a close-up look at Brazilian agriculture and the country’s potential as a global competitor, Stell said.

Of the two experiences, many said the California trip provided lessons more relevant to North Carolina. And while the learning experiences focused on agriculture, the lessons were related to leadership. In Marin County, a rural county outside of San Francisco, the group learned about farmland preservation efforts, marketing rural products to an urban audience and working across philosophical boundaries toward the common goal of water quality.

Prior to the trips, the ag leaders – many of whom hold N.C. State degrees -- participated in a variety of training programs and identified five focus areas they wanted to explore further. This spring and summer, they will work in groups to complete practicums in the focus areas.

The five areas include: increasing the use of biodiesel; educating the public about North Carolina agriculture; using agriculture to enhance green space; ensuring an adequate supply of farmworkers; and using the 2007 Farm Bill to ensure a safe and secure food supply.

The group that focused on the Farm Bill conducted legislative visits in Washington, D.C. One group member told Stell that without the experience from the leadership program, he would not have had the knowledge or confidence to conduct such a visit.

On the California trip, the group began in San Francisco with a tour of the downtown Ferry Market, a successful farmers’ market that brings rural growers and urban customers together two days a week. But more than a sales arena, the market is sponsored by the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture as a means of teaching the public the lessons of sustainable agriculture and local food systems.

The next four days, the group traveled north and then south of the city to visit key California agricultural areas. Each day, the program was hosted by county Cooperative Extension directors who introduced the group to issue leaders in their counties.

In Marin County, the group explored the rural side of the rural/urban relationship. They visited the Hog Island Oyster Company –a Ferry Market vendor – to see how oysters are produced and harvested in the waters of Tomales Bay, part of the Pt. Reyes National Seashore. The group learned how Marin farmers add value to their operations and manage urban growth, issues that North Carolina growers also are facing.

Even the lunchtime meal in Marin provided a lesson on local food systems. The group enjoyed a feast created from all-local products, including pasture-fed beef, eggs, produce and even heavy cream for the (not local) coffee.

In Monterey County, the group learned lessons of crisis management, talking with Dale Huss of Ocean Mist Co. Huss and other Salinas Valley lettuce and spinach growers were caught in the crossfire last year when bagged spinach grown in the area became contaminated with E. coli bacteria. Huss advised growers to be prepared for such a crisis.

The group also learned how Salinas growers were coping with the loss of aquifer water because of saline infusion. Waste water from Monterey County communities is recycled through a three-step treatment process that makes the water suitable for food crops. Treated water is pumped to local fields for irrigation.

The group ended its tour in Fresno and Tulare counties, the first and second largest agricultural counties in the U.S., still reeling from a January freeze that destroyed the citrus crop. Frost-damaged oranges still hung from trees, while at the Kearney Research and Extension Center, faculty members looked for ways to determine the extent of damage to naval oranges.

Lessons learned? Be prepared for natural disasters. Jim Sullins, Tulare County Extension director, told the group the January disaster marked the third 100-year freeze to hit central California since 1993. Even with that experience, growers ran short of propane to heat orchards, some watering systems failed and other freeze protections were not enough to save the crop. In early February, half the local orange packing sheds were at 50 percent capacity, and 50-70 percent of the oranges were believed lost.

Perhaps the biggest concern for Tulare and Fresno growers was that 6,000-7,000 agricultural workers were out of work due to the freeze. Growers, who feared the workers would leave the state, organized relief efforts to help keep the workers in California.

The participants have a great deal to say about their leadership program. Many point to relationship skills they have gained that have improved not only their professional relationships but those with friends and family as well.

"The real value to me is what I’ve learned about myself and how I interact with other people. I wish I had known this 20 years ago," said Richard Melton, Anson County agricultural Extension agent. "It has changed the way I look at developing Extension programming."

Billy Slade of Beaufort County, an agribusiness sales manager, said that learning to discuss high-stakes/high-stress issues had saved the jobs of three fellow employees. Being able to sit down to discuss a difficult personal matter had prevented two employees from resigning and a third from possible firing.

Keith Waller, a Wayne County grower who farms with his family, said the leadership training had made him a better manager and a better person. He is now more willing to call on other farmers for help or to discuss practices. When a corn bin at his operation burst, he turned to fellow leader Brandon Warren to ask for assistance.

Warren said the program had given him "friendships for a lifetime," as well as a group of peers who could work together to address challenges for agriculture. "I am more willing to serve in a leadership position now," he said. "It’s been a privilege to be able to participate in this."

Sue Leggett of Nash County, who farms with her husband, said the program has taught her better interpersonal skills and given her confidence to work with and inform other groups about agricultural issues. "This program has introduced me to methods and ideas for improving the interface between the agricultural industry and the general public," she said.

Davie County grower Stacy Walker, who kept a journal of his Brazil and California experiences, said the program had given him the confidence to try new things. "I don’t know yet the path this program has started me on, but I know I’m stepping more boldly now," he said.
-N. Hampton

Posted by Natalie at 04:15 PM

April 04, 2007

Conference brings together churches, farmers, hunger advocates

The Center for Environmental Farming Systems in Goldsboro will be a featured attraction during one of three meetings designed to explore how churches, farmers and hunger relief agencies can work together.

The North Carolina Council of Churches Rural Life Committee will bring together churches, farmers and hunger relief advocates for a conference titled "Come to the Table: A Conference on Food, Faith and Farms," which will explore how North Carolinians can honor the land, relieve hunger and sustain local agriculture.

Three one-day, regional sessions will make up the conference.
The Eastern North Carolina session will be April 10 at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Goldsboro, N.C.
The Central North Carolina session will be April 11 at Cedar Grove United Methodist Church in Cedar Grove.
The Western North Carolina session will be April 13 at Biltmore United Methodist Church in Asheville.

The Goldsboro session will include a tour of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems, a partnership of North Carolina State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina A&T State University and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The center is one of the nation's largest efforts to study environmentally sustainable farming practices.

At all the sessions, speakers will address the theology of land stewardship and the regional state of agriculture and hunger. Leaders of local projects will discuss their work with faith, farming and hunger relief. Booths and exhibits will give organizations the chance to share their work and meet new partners. Participants will also have a chance to experience local agriculture.

"We hope this conference sparks successful projects and partnerships," said Betty Bailey, a member of the Rural Life Committee and executive director of the Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA.

Speakers include Ellen Davis, a professor at Duke Divinity School; Scott Marlow, Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA farm sustainability program director; N. Yolanda Burwell, senior fellow at the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center; and Christal Andrews, Outreach Coordinator for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern N.C.

Come to the Table is sponsored by the Duke Endowment, the Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA, Hood Theological Seminary and the Heifer International-Southeast Regional Office. Anyone interested in connecting farmers to hunger relief efforts is invited to attend. Registration and other information is available online at http://www.cometothetablenc.org or by calling Claire Hermann at (919) 360-7416.

Posted by Dave at 09:27 AM

March 30, 2007

Author Anna Lappe to speak April 4

Best-selling author Anna Lappe will present a public lecture at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 4, at the JC Raulston Arboretum at North Carolina State University. Lappe, who is also a co-founder of the Small Planet Institute in Cambridge, Mass., is a frequent speaker on food politics, agriculture, globalization and social change.

Lappe is co-author of the 2006 book, Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen, which she wrote with Bryant Terry. In 2002, she co-authored the book, Hope’s Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet with her mother, Frances Moore Lappe, author of the original Diet for a Small Planet, published in the 1970s.

The event is free and open to the public. The JC Raulston Arboretum is located at 4415 Beryl Road, Raleigh. Following Lappe’s lecture, dessert will be provided by Irregardless Café. For additional information, contact cefs_info@ncsu.edu or 919.513.0954.

The lecture is sponsored by the Center for Environmental Farming Systems, promoting research, teaching and extension activities related to sustainable agriculture. CEFS is a partnership of N.C. State University, N.C. A&T State University and the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Posted by Natalie at 01:54 PM

March 21, 2007

A burgeoning industry

When Dr. Sara Spayd makes presentations about growing wine grapes, she always shows a photograph of a Riesling vine that has pushed through dry desert ground, wrapped itself around a gnarly cluster of tumbleweed and is bearing fruit.

It’s a demonstration of how little water wine grapes need in order to grow. The image is also an eye-opening statement on the challenges of growing wine grapes in North Carolina, in a climate known for humidity, rain, and a long hurricane season that happens to coincide with harvest time.

“One of my biggest goals is to find varieties that are well-suited to the North Carolina climate and will produce a good finished product,” says Spayd, the College’s new viticulturist and professor of horticultural science.

A native North Carolinian whose father once grew muscadine grapes for wine down East, Spayd has just returned to the state from 26 years as a professor at Washington State University. Her work helped Washington’s wine industry become the second largest in the country.
North Carolina’s industry, she says, is growing legs.

The number of wineries in North Carolina has more than doubled since 2002, from 25 to 57, according to Margo Knight, director of the North Carolina Wine and Grape Council. The state has more than 350 commercial vineyards covering more than 1,500 acres.

In 2005, state-produced grapes were valued at nearly $3.7 million, and the value of state-produced wine was estimated at $54 million, according to Knight. A new winery opens every month on average, Knight says, and North Carolina ranks 12th for wine production and 10th for grape production in the U.S.

“North Carolina has the ability to grow a wide variety of grapes, which sets us apart from most,” Knight says. “In addition to traditional European wine grapes like Chardonnay and Merlot, we also grow native varieties like muscadine and scuppernong.”

But, the challenges to the industry in North Carolina are significant.

“Right now, the number-one challenge is consistent quality of grapes and wine,” Knight says. “There are still a lot of folks working out the kinks, so to speak. As a fairly new kid on the block, our state is judged by both its good and bad wines.”

Also, Pierce’s disease, an insect-borne scourge, is an issue for wine grape growers.

Spayd is one of three new faculty in the College whose work will support the wine and grape industry. Connie Fisk is a new muscadine Extension associate, and Dr. Trevor Phister, a new assistant professor in the Department of Food Science, specializes in enology (the science of wine and wine making).

“Industry members are excited about this new leadership and are optimistic that N.C. State will play a major role in assisting our grape growers and winemakers,” Knight says.

Spayd is responsible for bunch grape research and Extension in the Department of Horticultural Science. She’ll wear two hats: as a researcher, she’ll work to find new grape varieties that will grow well in North Carolina; and through Extension, she’ll help educate agents and growers on vineyard and winery management practices that will improve the quality of grapes and their products.

Since arriving last spring, Spayd has hosted a number of different workshops and packed thousands of miles on her truck visiting Extension agents and wineries throughout the state. She and Dr. Barclay Poling, professor of horticultural science, also launched a new distance-education viticulture course in January.

Fisk, who received a master’s degree at Oregon State University in 2006, will support Extension agents in counties where muscadines are commercially grown. Muscadine grapes are grown in nearly 50 counties as far west as Surry, but mostly in the east.

Naturally disease- and pest-resistant, muscadine grapes grow well in North Carolina, she says. The sweet grapes are valued not only for their juice, but also for their hulls and seeds. Packed with antioxidants, these byproducts of the winemaking industry are now being manufactured into nutritional supplements. Fresh market sales of muscadine grapes are also strong.

“With the growing demand for muscadines comes exciting opportunities for farmers in North Carolina to diversify,” Fisk says. “A lot of growers affected by the tobacco buyout are looking to keep their land and grow new crops.”

Based at the Duplin County Cooperative Extension Service Office, Fisk has focused her first year on learning the landscape. She’s been busy traveling to the muscadine-growing counties to learn first-hand the needs and concerns of growers, agents, wineries and vineyards.

She’ll help with site selection, vineyard management practices and fruit quality control, among many other things. She also finds time to help teach a viticulture and enology course at nearby James Sprunt Community College.

“With the market growing, agents are receiving more and more questions,” Fisk says. “Knowing the risks ahead of time will help them, and help growers, produce a quality product.”

Phister joins the College from Drexel University, where he served as assistant professor of bioscience and biotechnology. He’ll focus his research on fermentation and the science behind what makes wine taste good or bad. He also carries an Extension appointment and already has in mind a slate of ideas.

“I’m going to help support the viticulture work,” he says. “The ultimate end point of the grapes they’re growing is to make wine. And, once I pick up on what some of the industry’s concerns and problems are, then I’ll set up research in those areas. I think it’s exciting how the industry is growing in North Carolina.”

Among Phister’s goals is to establish a program through which wineries can submit samples for sensory, microbial and chemical analysis – a blind taste-test, so to say – that will help them determine strengths and weaknesses of particular wines.

He’ll also team with Appalachian State University and Surry Community College on research studies, and he hopes to set up a winemakers’ roundtable that would create new networking opportunities for the state’s wineries.

At the College’s annual “Celebrate N.C. Wines” event in October, 12 of the state’s wineries offered tastings. Designed as much to educate as to celebrate, the event also featured research demonstrations, wine and food pairings workshops, a silent auction and live music.

“Celebrate N.C. Wines” raised $22,000 to support viticulture and enology research in the College, as well as the JC Raulston Arboretum.

At the event’s closing ceremony, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean Johnny Wynne said, “We in the College are proud to serve as