Fair time for future farmers

For many people the county fair conjures up images of Ferris wheels, carnival games and cotton candy, but here in Western North Carolina the annual events represent a time of year when the region’s agricultural roots get to take center stage. 

Of course there will be the beloved fair foods, carnival rides and children giggling on the Ferris wheel, but there will also be hundreds of gardeners, farmers, agricultural students and others signing up to show off their prized plants, produce and cattle.

Hemp Farm expands operations in Macon

An industrial hemp farm will be expanding its operations into the Macon County Business Development Center after commissioners approved a lease agreement for Appalachian Growers. 

Cherokee planting method was ‘agronomically sound’

Editor’s note: This column first appeared in The Smoky Mountain News in April 2004.

These days my wife, Elizabeth, and I just play around at gardening in several raised beds situated beside the front deck of our home. This year, she has already put out patches of spinach, peas, and lettuce.  These will be followed in early May by Swiss chard, a few tomato plants and cucumber vines, a “teepee” of pole beans, and eight or so sweet banana peppers. We do get pretty serious in the fall, trying to establish by early September beds of potherbs (rape, turnip greens, kale, etc.) that will serve as cooked greens during the winter months. 

‘Effort like they’ve never had to give’: Farmers get older and fewer, but hope remains for ag’s future

Zac Guy grew up on the back of a tractor. 

His father worked in sales and his mother was a postal carrier, but Guy’s grandfather Louie Reece was a commercial beef farmer, raising cattle as well as the hay and corn silage they needed to thrive on his farm in Bethel. 

‘Wild West’ agriculture: N.C. Extension tests out cannabis production

Jeanine Davis has spent more than two decades researching new and emerging crops in North Carolina, but she’s never experienced anything like the hype surrounding hemp. 

“I’ve always gotten a disproportionately large number of inquiries just because there aren’t a large number of people across the country that work with the crops I work with,” said Davis. “Taking on hemp has taken it to a whole new level.”

When, not if: The case for and against cannabis in NC

With the recent actions of Michigan and Vermont, 72 million people in 10 U.S. states — 23 percent of the population — can now purchase recreational marijuana in a retail setting, after decades of strict prohibition and despite a lingering federal ban. 

North Carolina isn’t one of those states, but it soon could be if a recent trend towards the legalization of recreational marijuana continues. 

From the ground up: Appalachian Growers digging into hemp industry

It may look like marijuana and it may smell like marijuana, but it’s not marijuana. Without the THC component, the green and aromatic plant is simply hemp. It won’t get you high and it’s now legal to grow in 34 states, including North Carolina. 

Farm Bill offers little relief for American agriculture

American agriculture is experiencing a tougher time than ever, and that includes farmers in North Carolina. But as the latest version of the Farm Bill awaits President Donald Trump’s signature after passing through Congress, apparently there’s not a lot of help coming. 

Through the raincloud: Agricultural community takes stock after record-breaking rains

A month of rain capped off by the arrival of Tropical Storm Alberto has caused massive flooding, landslides and loss of life in North Carolina’s western region, but the mountains west of Asheville were mostly able to escape the devastation experienced in Polk, McDowell, Avery and Buncombe counties. 

“I think everyone’s optimistic that we dodged a bullet to have got 20 inches of rain in two weeks and not gotten any more extensive flooding than what we had,” said Joe Deal, agriculture extension agent for Macon County Cooperative Extension.

What’s in the cards? Growing the greens

The cultivation of agriculture is the first and most important way Homo sapiens differentiate themselves from other creatures.

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