Message from the Director: Value-Added Team Relocates to North Carolina Research Campus at Kannapolis; Receives Recent Grants
The New Farm Bill: What Does It Mean to North Carolina?
Congress recently passed a new farm bill. Dr. Blake Brown, economist and policy analyst, takes a look at what it means to North Carolina agriculture and beyond. Read more
New Farm Bill
The USDA provides detailed information on the new farm bill.
The Changing Face of North Carolina Agriculture
Dr. Blake Brown, director of the Program for Value-Added & Alternative Agriculture, writes about North Carolina agriculture and how it has changed over the past two decades, the factors that drove the change and what this means for today’s farmers.
Tips That Help You Sell More at Market
If you’re a farmer that sells your products at a local market, how do you respond when a customer asks you how to prepare a certain food item? If your response is, “I don’t know, I just grow it!” then The Produce Lady can help you. Learn more
Featured Resource
Dr. Michael Walden, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, provides numerous helpful resources, including the N.C. Economic Outlook Series, You Decide, a biweekly newsletter, and Economic Perspective, a daily radio show. His NC State University faculty page includes information on state and county agribusiness values. Check it out here.
Did you Know?
The poultry industry is a leading contributor to North Carolina’s agricultural economy. Broilers rank as the top commodity for the state with an annual production value of $2.2 billion. Wilkes County leads the state with more than 91 million broilers on farms. Learn more at www.ncpoultry.org.
Upcoming Conferences, Events, Meetings
Successful Small Farm Opportunities
Dec. 6, Creedmoor, North Carolina. Learn more
Value-Added Producer Grant Workshops
Three workshops will be held across North Carolina to help producers understand how to apply for USDA-Rural Development’s Value-Added Producer Grant. This grant is targeted to producers planning to add a value-added enterprise to their farm. The grant RFP for the 2009 cycle will likely be announced by USDA in early 2009.
Monday, Dec 8, 1-5 p.m., Burke County Extension Center, 130 Ammons Drive, Suite 2, Morganton
Wednesday, Dec 10, 1-5 p.m., Lee County Extension Center, 2420 Tramway Road, Sanford
Thursday, Dec 11, 9 a.m.- Noon, Craven County Extension Center, 300 Industrial Drive, New Bern
The workshops are free and registration to attend is not required. Though the workshops will provide valuable information to aid the application process, attendance is not required to apply for a grant. Learn more
Building a Sustainable Local Food Economy in North Carolina
The Center for Environmental Farming Systems is hosting regional meetings to gather information from across local food system sectors. If you have an interest in local foods, plan to attend one of these upcoming meetings.
Charlotte area: December 8, 2008. 1:30-4:30 at Cabarrus Arena and Event Center. The address is: 4751 Highway 49 North, Concord, NC 28025 and directions can be found at: http://www.cabarrusarena.com/pages/Direction.html.
Winston-Salem: December 10, 2008. 5:30-8:30 PM. SciWorks. 400 W Hanes Mill Rd, Winston Salem, (336) 767-6734. directions: http://www.sciworks.org/SciInfoDirections.html.
Greenville: December 15, 2008. 1:30-4:30 at St. Timothy's, 107 Louis St., Greenville.
Statewide Summit, March 2 and 3.
Learn more at http://www.cefsfarmtofork.com/
Northern Piedmont Specialty Crops School
8 a.m., February 27, 2009.
The Northern Piedmont Specialty Crop School is designed to explore the art and science of growing and marketing specialty crops.
This year's school will feature many ideas for specialty crop growers to be successful in their ventures. Marketing methods, including direct marketing, agritourism, and community-supported agriculture will be presented. Dehydration techniques to make value-added products will be discussed.
The school will be held in the auditorium of the Person County Extension Center, 304 S. Morgan St., Roxboro, NC. For directions, go to: www.ces.ncsu.edu/person/pext_map.html.
The cost of the one-day school is $25.00 for the first person of a family or business and includes lunch. The cost will be $15.00 for each additional family member or business associate, which also includes lunch.
For more information, contact:
Carl Cantaluppi
Granville County Extension
P.O. Box 926
Oxford, NC 27565
Phone: 919-603-1350
FAX: 919-603-0268
E-Mail: carl_cantaluppi@ncsu.edu
New Developments
New Sweet Potato Product
North Carolina farmers produce more sweet potatoes than growers in any other state. Thanks to NC State research, a new, high-quality sweet potato puree ingredient is commercially available to manufacturers for use in baked goods, soups, beverages and nutraceuticals. Read more about YamCo.
New Plant Varieties: Sweet Potatoes, Ornamentals, Tomatoes and Others
The Plant Breeding Center at NC State has one of the largest plant breeding programs in the United States. The center is interdepartment, and involves a full range of research programs, courses and crops. Read more
New Prototype to Cook Fried Foods Without Adding Oil
Purdue food scientist Kevin Keener has invented the 'radiant fryer,'designed to quickly produce foods that appear and taste like they have been fried, without using any additional oil. Keener and Brian Farkas, a food scientist at North Carolina State University, are co-inventors of the patent-pending oven design. They completed a smaller prototype – about the size of a standard microwave oven – upon which many of the calculations for the commercial prototype are based, Keener said. Food from this first prototype proved indistinguishable from emergent-fried products to a panel of taste-testers, he said. The Purdue-Anderson Tool project is funded by Small Business Initiative Research grants from the state of Indiana and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Read more
