News
N.C. Agricultural Drought Recovery Program
The N.C. Agricultural Drought Recovery Program has been created to help North Carolina farmers reeling from the state’s ongoing drought. It will cover 75 percent of the cost of restoring drought-damaged pastureland and providing additional water supply for livestock and crops.
R3 center to seek out, help Philip Morris employees
Rowan-Cabarrus Community College will help Philip Morris employees and their families get primed for re-entry into the workforce as their jobs leave Concord.
RCCC’s efforts will be aided by the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission’s support of Project Skill-UP, an N.C. Community College System program providing career exploration for tobacco industry workers.
RCCC’s R3 Center received $40,000 of a $242,000 grant given to community colleges to provide career assistance to people and businesses affected by tobacco
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Agent to Help Farmers on Bragg Growth
Adoption of a grant project ordinance clears the way for the Cooperative Extension Service to hire an agricultural agent to promote agri-business projects in the BRAC region.
The Moore County Board of Commissioners adopted the ordinance at the Jan. 7 meeting.
County Extension Director Craven Hudson told the board that the BRAC Regional Task Force and the Extension Service have obtained a $203,100 grant to fund an agent to help farmers in the 11-county region to sell their products at Fort Bragg. The agent will be stationed in the Moore County Extension Center but will serve the entire area.
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Black Gold: Truffles on the Farm
Just down the road from the center of this small Moore County town, a businesswoman’s dream is taking root in a former tobacco field.
Susan E. Rice of Pinehurst believes this dream, her business, will not only transform her community into a destination for the world’s gourmet chefs and food connoisseurs but will also reinvigorate the region’s farm economy.
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Fund helps Wean Farmers off Tobacco
Purple sweet potatoes, watermelon and grits are some of the products being churned out by N.C. farmers who can no longer make a profit in the tobacco industry.
The N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, created to distribute money the state received from the federal tobacco settlement, gave $3.2 million in grants last week to 25 projects.
"We focus on tobacco-dependent individuals and help them with the rapid changes that
are happening within the tobacco industry," said William Upchurch, executive director of the fund.
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$173,000 for Job Skill Training
Opportunities Industrialization Center of Wilson has been awarded $173,000 from the
N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission to continue helping dislocated workers find jobs
and improve their job skills through a program called Project New Start.
The money will fund the third phase of the program, which has been in operation in
Wilson since February 2004.
The trust fund approved grants totaling $3.2 million for 25 projects statewide. Several of
the projects will serve residents of Wilson, Nash, Greene and Johnston counties.
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Power of Pie: Purple Sweet Potatoes Planting Seeds of Economic Development in Stokes
Grandma’s sweet-potato pie at Thanksgiving dinner this year could be purple. Purple sweet potatoes and family recipes for jams, jellies, pies and pickles are part of a
push to get a new economic-development initiative for farmers in Northwest N.C. off the
ground.
Farmers in Stokes County are working with cooks in Ashe County to market a purple sweet potato. And Stokes officials hope that the purple potato is the first of several crops that will help preserve agriculture and the rural nature of the county.
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Creating Business Opportunities
With the tobacco buyout and a competitive market for agricultural products, producers are turning to North Carolina Cooperative Extension agents to help identify new opportunities to make money. But armed only with production knowledge, agents often find it difficult to help producers make informed business decisions.
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Living with Pierce's Disease
The first symptoms usually appear in mid-July to August, the hottest part of a North Carolina summer. The leaves of grapevines turn brown at the edges, as though scorched by the summer heat. Then clusters of grapes shrivel up. Eventually, the entire vine dies.
This is Pierce's disease, and it is the bane of North Carolina's growing viticulture industry. It is also the object of Dr. Turner Sutton's scrutiny. Sutton, a professor of plant pathology and Extension specialist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is looking for ways to allow North Carolina wine grape growers to live with Pierce's disease.
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