Gary Bullen, Extension associate in Agricultural and Resource Economics at N.C. State University, recently returned from a volunteer assignment in Malawi where he conducted a market assessment of peanuts. His assignment was part of a project with CNFA, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering people and enterprises in the developing world.

Bullen jokingly claims that residents of rural areas around the world share certain commonalities, “having grown up on a vegetable and livestock farm in a Berea, Kentucky, I’ve always felt comfortable approaching rural people in villages across Africa." In fact, he has gone on volunteer trips to Africa every year for the past ten years so that he now finds himself at ease with the culture, “I know how to word my questions the right way to get the real answers."

N.C. SARE will cover up to $100 for registration/travel/mileage. All
scholarships are reimbursement only. Please send fill out and send the
attached application to Carol Moore at carolmoore27@gmail.com.

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. - As greenhouse tomato growers in North Carolina are gearing up for the season, N.C. MarketReady, a program of N.C. Cooperative Extension, has launched the Tomato Growers Information Portal. The new Web resource is the third in a series of "growers information portals" developed by the program that provide North Carolina producers with one-stop shopping for their fruit and vegetable production needs. The Tomato Growers Information Portal currently features N.C. State University production resources for both greenhouse and field-grown tomatoes, including materials on economics, energy management and specialized equipment. Growers will find resources on marketing, food safety, integrated pest management, industry events and risk management specific to North Carolina tomato production. The portal can be accessed by visiting N.C. MarketReady online at
www.ncmarketready.org and clicking the Growers Information Portals tab on the left menu bar.

With impending winter weather expected across the state this weekend, N.C. Cooperative Extension specialists at N.C. State University offer some tips on preventing injuries or illness associated with winter storms and the potential for power outages.

Resources have been posted to Cooperative Extension’s disaster page at www.ces.ncsu.edu/disaster. Other winter storm resources from the national Extension Disaster Education Network are online at eden.lsu.edu/Topics/Hazards/SnowIce/Pages/default.aspx.

For a complete list of Cooperative Extension experts who can speak about disaster, visit: www.ces.ncsu.edu/disaster/media/experts.html.

In the early 1970s, a group of employees of the N.C. Agricultural Extension Service sued the organization over unequal pay for employees of color and over segregated 4-H and Extension Homemaker clubs. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled for the Bazemore v. Friday plaintiffs in 1986, setting an important precedent on the burden of proof in work place discrimination cases.

In October, many of the original plaintiffs in the case returned to the JC Raulston Arboretum for a reunion and to hear Cooperative Extension and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences administrators describe efforts to improve diversity. The plaintiffs left saying they were impressed with efforts increase diversity among employees and students in the College.

Conferences will be held at the Nash County extension center Jan. 19 in Nashville, at the Union County extension center Jan. 20 in Monroe, and at the Mountain Research Station Jan. 21 in Mills River. Each conference will run 1-7:30 p.m.

Utah’s Dr. Fred Provenza will present information at each conference, along with panels of exceptional local forage managers. Provenza is often featured in Stockman Grass Farmer magazine. Among his most interesting accomplishments is the successful management of livestock and wildlife to eat weedy and invasive plants.

Fifty years ago, North Carolina 4-H’er Larry Dilda of Pitt County stood with President Dwight D. Eisenhower on the steps of the National 4-H Conference Center in Washington, D.C. for the ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the dedication of the center. Dilda was a 4-H Conference delegate that year, and president of the N.C. State College Collegiate 4-H Club, 1959-60. Dilda stood with Anita Hollmer Hodson, a New York 4-H’er, who was also on hand at the historic event, marking the opening of the center and the first-ever National 4-H Conference.

Dilda was on hand again to celebrate the conference center’s 50th birthday. On October 9, the National 4-H Heritage Club charter members gathered on the steps of JC Penney Hall (called Smith Hall in 1959) to witness the reenactment of the 1959 ribbon cutting. Hodson and Dilda were present to resume their historic roles. Don Floyd, National 4-H Council President and CEO played the role of President Eisenhower and cut the ribbon that marked the beginning of National 4-H Youth Conference Center’s next 50 years.

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Location, location, location. That phrase that describes all things related to real estate is also a major impediment to the development of marine - or salt water - aquaculture in North Carolina.

But that may be about to change with the development by North Carolina State University of the Marine Aquaculture Research Center near Marshallberg in rural Carteret County on the North Carolina coast.

The center, which officially opened Dec. 11, was made possible by a $500,000 gift from Dr. I.J. and Sue Won of Williston, N.C. It is located on land owned by the Wons. The North Carolina Agricultural Foundation, the fund raising arm of N.C. State's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is leasing the site from the Wons.

Read more from the Comm Serv news release