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North Carolina Cooperative Extension is supporting the 10% Campaign, aimed at encouraging consumers to spend 10 percent of their food dollars locally, by providing an agent in each county to serve as a local foods coordinator. In addition, Extension has signed on to promote the campaign and support a 10% Campaign Employee Challenge.

We are encouraging Cooperative Extension employees around the state to join the campaign through the website, www.nc10percent.com, and pledge to purchase 10 percent of your food from local sources. The 10% Campaign is an effort by the Center for Environmental Farming Systems and N.C. Cooperative Extension to build a local food economy in North Carolina.

North Carolinians spend about $35 billion a year on food. If each person spent just 10 percent on food locally, roughly $1.05 per day, then approximately $3.5 billion annually would be available in the state’s economy.

350 4-H'ers gathered at Dorton Arena for a Hands to Service project repackaging food for hunger relief agencies. (Marc Hall photo)

4-H'ers attending State 4-H Congress this week in Raleigh committed to an ambitious goal of collecting 1 million pounds of food for North Carolina’s food banks as part of a campaign called Hungry to Help.

Conducted in partnership with the Food Banks of North Carolina, the campaign is designed to promote awareness of hunger in North Carolina and to help stop it. To get started, 350 4-H'ers gathered at Dorton Arena at the State Fairgrounds Wednesday to repackage 37,900 pounds of pasta from massive containers into smaller, family-sized portions.

North Carolina Cooperative Extension and the Center for Environmental Farming Systems have teamed up to encourage North Carolina consumers to spend 10 percent of their food dollars on foods from local sources. The 10% Campaign was launched through a new website, www.nc10percent.com.

The website will allow consumers and business the opportunity to pledge to spend 10 percent of their food dollars locally, purchasing products from area farmers and food producers. Campaign participants will receive weekly email reminders to report how much money they spent on local food. The website will show consumers how their dollars spent on local foods grow.

North Carolinians spend about $35 billion a year on food. If each person spent just 10 percent on food locally – roughly $1.05 per day – then approximately $3.5 billion annually would be available in the state’s economy.

Please join us for a roundtable discussion with panelists Dr. Scott Barao, Dr. Arion Thiboumery and Dr. Matt Poore, a question-and-answer session and a “meat social” with producers, Cooperative Extension professionals and meat processors.

Topics for discussion will include grass-fed genetics, determining production costs, maintaining high quality carcasses, smart carcass utilization, forage management, value added products, successful case studies around the country and building a relationship with your processor.

The event is free, but please RSVP to Casey McKissick at casey@ncchoices.com by July 23.

Savannah’s agitation, a symptom of Asperger’s syndrome, melted away, and the youngster was calm. The change was so dramatic that Eileen Lowery of Kill Devil Hills knew her daughter needed another chance to ride.

Last week, 6-year-old Savannah got that opportunity at the 4-H Rural Center’s therapeutic riding program. With pink cowgirl boots and riding cap, Savannah took no time to adjust. Before the end of her first half-hour session, she was urging the horse Minnie Pearl to trot faster, much to the pleasure of mom and instructor Sam Iulo of Jarvisburg.

Read more from The Daily Advance

Congress will be held July 19-22 at North Carolina State University and other Raleigh locations. The annual event will attract more than 500 4-H club members, adult volunteers and 4-H agents with North
Carolina Cooperative Extension.

During the four-day event, delegates also will participate in competition, workshops, assemblies, recreation, fellowship and service to the community.

4-H Bryan Blake harvests blueberries as part of a Moore County extension project. (Marc Hall photo)

Eight teens and tweens wandered beneath and between the branches of blueberry bushes under a sweltering July sun in Moore County's Cameron community. Some mentioned the careers they'd like to pursue when they grow up: One said a hockey player. Another, an auto mechanic. And yet another, a veterinarian.

That whole thing was a ruse to get Vaughn to the meeting, however, because he walked out of the commissioners' chambers carrying one of the most prestigious awards offered by the state of North Carolina.

Vaughn, who has been at the helm of the Iredell Cooperative Extension for three and a half decades, won the Old North State Award for his nearly half century of working for different Tar Heel counties.
Read more in the Statesville Landmark and Record

More than 65 percent of all N.C. adults are overweight, and our state ranks fifth worst in the country for childhood obesity. Cooperative Extension is out to change these statistics through its Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less program.

The 15-week program helps people plan, track and live healthier lifestyles. A team of experts with Extension and the N.C. Division of Public Health developed the program.

Wickliffe's appointment as Guilford Extension director, effective July 12, was announced by Dr. Joe Zublena, interim director of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service at North Carolina State University, and Brenda Fox, Guilford County Manager. Wickliffe succeeds Brenda Morris, who retired last year after a 30-year extension career.

Ray Kimsey, senior information strategist with Extension Information Technology, developed the site. "It didn't make sense to duplicate the whole site. The goal was to make a site that was useful for someone using a phone," he said.

Hanlin’s appointment was announced by Wilkes County Manager John Yates and Dr. Joe Zublena, interim director, N.C. Cooperative Extension Service. Hanlin succeeds Donna Edsel, who retired in June 2009, after 12 years as county Extension director.

Bradley's appointment was announced by Rutherford County Manager John Condrey and Dr. Joe Zublena, interim director of the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service. Bradley succeeds Steve Duckett, who resigned in May 2009 to become the Extension director in Buncombe County.

Recognizing that farming is among the nation's most hazardous occupations, North Carolina Cooperative Extension offers educational programs to help farmers, farmworkers and their families lower their risk of injury, illness and death. Its latest tool in this effort is a kit of easy-to-use materials to teach pesticide safety to Spanish-speaking agricultural workers with limited formal education.

Extension tested the kit with workers and trainers to make sure the educational materials were simple yet effective. It also was reviewed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that it met the federal Worker Protection Standard's training requirements. The WPS calls for agricultural employers, owners, managers and labor contractors to provide training not only to those who handle pesticides but to all the people who are involved in the production of agricultural plants.