Eastern
Coastal ghost forests: The silent sentinels of sea level rise
The images that most likely come to people’s minds when they hear climate change or sea level rise are often of flooded city streets and buildings being lost to the sea. However, these dramatic images often overshadow the more subtle yet significant impact sea level rise is having along the Atlantic coastline. The change may not be noticeable from year to year but over time, you may start to notice those tracts of maritime forests, Atlantic white cedar and cypress-gum swamps you used to see while driving along the coast or in your backyard, thinning like a receding hairline. All that remains of what once was are standing dead trees (also known as snags in wildland firefighting terminology). …
(Bladen) Next Gen Ag: Born, Raised and Here to Stay – Sydney Loflin’s unfailing passion for N.C. Agriculture
A day in agriculture is always a day well spent, or at least that’s been the viewpoint of Sydney Loflin for most of her life. From helping on her grandparents’ farm as a young girl to FFA initiatives and college classes, Sydney has been immersed in the world of agriculture for as long as she can remember. Currently working towards a future ag career, she can’t wait to leave her mark on the industry. Sydney grew up in a farming family with grandparents who owned and operated a farm in Bladenboro and parents who both worked as ag teachers for several years. At their family home in Denton, Sydney and her parents not only harvested a garden every year, but they also grew a variety of trees and flowers together on their property. “I learned a lot about the industry from my parents, both through hands-on teaching and personal learning moments,” she said. “Each summer we would travel to my grandparents farm in Bladenboro for a week, where I would help my grandfather pick peas and help my grandmother shell them. As a reward, I would get to pick the blueberries off the bush and eat them until my belly ached! Those were perfect days!” ...
(Johnston) Next Gen Ag: Working hard towards a career in livestock
Some people are blessed with a calling on their life that transcends all other industries and careers. For Savannah Adams of Four Oaks, agriculture was that calling. Growing up on her family hobby farm, Savannah began working with livestock at a young age and hasn’t looked back since. Savannah’s family owns and operates what many people may call a hobby farm, meaning that each person has a full-time job in another industry, but together they also farm for themselves, friends and family members. Before Savannah was born, her uncle started a swine farm in Four Oaks. In her childhood years, Savannah and her family would not only spend days and weekends throughout the year on the farm when needed, but also each December the entire family would come together to process the animals. “From the time I was four years old, I’ve loved agriculture and known that this is where I wanted to spend my career,” she said. “Every December, my family and I would go and spend the very last week of the year helping my uncle process hogs on the farm. We would set up an assembly line and each have a different job. I was always the sausage grinder.” …
(Johnston) Next Gen Ag: From seed to sale, a life in horticulture
Life has a funny way of placing us exactly where we need to be, even when we don’t think it’s where we will end up. Peyton Gardner, a native of Princeton, grew up in a rural area surrounded by agriculture and never thought she would end up working in the industry. In fact, she was adamant against it for many years of her life. However, after taking a class in high school and working in a greenhouse, the roots of our industry wrapped themselves around her heart and changed her life forever. As a child, Peyton has many memories of agriculture, not only from observing farms in her hometown, but also travelling to work with her dad. Peyton recalls spending days with her dad at work in Fremont at Helena Chemical Company. “My dad was the plant manager in Fremont during my childhood years, so I would go with him to work some days during the week if I didn’t have school or on the weekends,” she said. While there, she and her brother would climb lime piles and ride along to farm visits with her dad. ...
(Nash) Next Gen Ag: Leaving a legacy with alpaca farming
Creating a legacy to leave behind for future generations is a desire of many parents across the nation, including Lauren Sullivan, co-owner and operator of Hardly Farm LLC in Castalia. Growing up on a farm, Lauren had a knowledge of and appreciation for agriculture instilled in her at a young age, but it wasn’t until her daughter, Emilene, came along that she decided to make farming her dream. As a third-generation farmer, Lauren has many fond memories of her grandparents and mother on the farm. “My family has always been involved in agriculture, especially my grandpa, who was big in the tobacco industry,” she said. “I remember watching him work on the farm, going to tobacco sales with him, and helping my grandmother shell butterbeans. They always ensured that I had a love for the land and an appreciation for the hard work of farmers across our state.” During the tobacco buyout of 2004, Lauren’s grandfather got out of the tobacco business and switched to growing other row crops and tree farming. Throughout the years, the land that Hardly Farm now sits on has been used for many agricultural purposes, including tobacco, soybeans, and row crops. “This land has a lot of history, which is why we are proud to be farming it today as a family,” Lauren said. “I think my grandfather would be proud if he saw the farm today and knew that we were helping to keep our family in the agriculture industry.” ...
(Wayne)Next Gen Ag: A passion for poultry
Animals have a way of speaking to our hearts whether they have four legs or two. Growing up, Nicole Martinez-Avila raised chickens with her family and immediately fell in love with them. From simply helping her family to focusing on agriculture for her future career, Nicole has always been surrounded by agriculture and can’t wait to leave her mark on the industry! As a young girl, Nicole was educated on agriculture by both of her parents as well as her grandparents. “My grandfather was heavily involved in the agriculture industry for most of his life, working mostly with turkeys and chickens,” she said. “Both of my parents also worked in agriculture for many years, both on livestock and produce operations.” In addition to learning from her parents and helping raise chickens at home, Nicole also had a farm directly across from her house, where she would often watch the workers harvest tobacco, sweet potatoes and other keystone crops in our state. “Agriculture has always been a part of my life, and I think it’s something that people need to understand and appreciate more,” she said. “I always had an appreciation for the people in this industry, but it wasn’t until high school that I realized I wanted my career to be anchored in agriculture.” ...
Piedmont
(Chatham) Century Farm: Brush Creek Swiss Farms still standing strong
Norman Jordan Jr. is the third-generation owner of Brush Creek Swiss Farms, a dairy farm in Siler City. Although started by his grandfather, the exact origin of when the farm began milking cows commercially is unknown among relatives. The Jordan family decided to establish 1927, the birth year of Norman Jordan Sr., as the start of the operations. In 1956, Norman Sr. bought his first Brown Swiss cow, then officially became an all-registered Brown Swiss herd in 1964. The farm has been raising the same cattle breed ever since. Brush Creek currently has 180-200 cows, which makes them one of the smaller herds in North Carolina. Ninety of them are in milk and the remaining are mature cows, calves or replacements. Norman Jr. started working on the dairy farm once he was big enough to lend a hand. His dad also got him involved in showing Brown Swiss at county, district and N.C. State Fair youth shows. Norman was connected with his local 4-H and the Brown Swiss Association where he would be asked to report on the youth activities he participated in. Those experiences helped him become a more confident speaker. ...
(Granville) Next Gen Ag: Changing the world as a first-generation farmer
Learning where your food comes from has the power to change your entire outlook on life, and for Declan Halos, his entire career path. Growing up in a family that wasn’t involved with agriculture, Declan shocked many people when he decided to become a first-generation farmer. Today, he is not only successful but growing and expanding with each passing year. At the age of 15 years old, Declan moved with his family to Oxford. As luck would have it, Oxford is a farming town and Declan’s parents had family friends in the area who owned and operated a cattle farm. “One night, my parent’s friend brought over half a processed cow, which was my first experience of learning where my food comes from,” he said. “Immediately I was intrigued and began talking with the farmer about his process, cattle and products.” From that moment on, Declan has never looked back on a career in agriculture. In fact, throughout high school he studied agriculture as much as he could and mentored under his family friend on the cattle farm. “Agriculture grabbed a hold of my heart from that initial experience because of my ability to be a steward of the land and physically see the rewards of my hard work,” he said. “Working under our family friend allowed me to gain hands-on experience in a variety of areas, including working cattle and handling vaccines. That gave me confidence that I could truly handle farming full-time in the future.” ...
(Orange) Century Farm: Orange County farmer remembered for his passion
Phillip Walker lived within a half a mile of where he first saw the light of day, and he loved to share that fact with most anyone he met. For much of his life, he lived on part of the 200-acre northern Orange County farm that has been in his family for over 200 years. His wife, Diane, said he inherited his portion of the land when he was just 13 years old, and he took great pride in it. Walker passed away earlier this year, but that pride and his passion for learning will be remembered. …
(Robeson) Next Gen Ag: A passion for agriculture around the world
Agriculture is an important industry around the world, and for Junior Torres Diaz, his passion for the industry didn’t just start with N.C. Agriculture, but also agriculture in Mexico. After his interest blossomed into a dream in high school, Junior started down a path to not only making a difference for our state’s number one industry but raising up the next generation to do the same. Before Junior was born, both of his parents worked on a family farm in Mexico. Today, his uncle and grandparents continue to be involved with the farm, and his parents help whenever they visit. However, Junior remembers hearing countless stories from his parents throughout his childhood of what agriculture was like in Mexico and why a career in this industry is so meaningful. “I may not have grown up on a farm, but I grew up knowing what agriculture is and why it is important,” he said. “I even had the chance recently to travel to Mexico and see the family farm firsthand. It was incredible to see how the agriculture industry functions in Mexico and the number of people involved to make it successful. To see that vision my parents embedded in me at a young age come to life through that trip made me to want to spend my career in agriculture even more.”...
(Rowan) Next Gen Ag: Jessie Fouts is buzzing her way into the NC Ag industry
Honeybees are an incredibly important part of the agriculture industry because they pollinate all the foods and plants that we love. At a young age, Jessie Fouts was introduced to the agriculture industry through honeybees and learned to not only appreciate them, but also love working with and raising them. Growing up in Cleveland, Jessie learned about gardening and beekeeping at the hands of her father and grandfather. “My pawpaw has had honeybee hives since I was a little girl, and my parents always had a garden, so I learned about agriculture at a very young age,” she said. “However, it wasn’t until I took my very first Animal Science class my freshman year of high school that I truly fell in love with all that agriculture has to offer.” After her first day of Animal Science class, Jessie joined the FFA at West Rowan High School and her journey towards a life in agriculture began. Between helping her grandfather and father manage over 20 apiaries and participating in many activities and competitions with the FFA, Jessie’s freshman year of high school proved the perfect launching pad for her agricultural career. “During the fall semester, I decided that I wanted my own apiaries, so I worked with my dad and pawpaw to save up the money and buy two Italian honeybee nucs and hives,” she said. “After the first honey harvest, I decided to turn the apiary into a business and start offering local honey to the community.” In 2018, Cline’s Hives was born and has been steadily growing ever since. ...
(Wake) Next Gen Ag: Ag dreams come to life through FFA and Disney
Agriculture is found everywhere across the world, from farms and markets to the N.C. State Fair and Disney World. Neva Grace Brescia from Cary grew up in a family that always appreciated agriculture and encouraged her to do the same. However, it wasn’t until she visited Disney World and became involved in FFA in high school that she truly fell in love with the industry. Today, she is a huge advocate for agriculture and can’t wait to leave her own mark on the industry throughout her future career. Growing up in Cary, Neva Grace and her family weren’t surrounded by agriculture, but they had family members in Dunn and Benson that farmed a variety of crops, including sweet potatoes. “My grandparents had strong backgrounds in agriculture and would invite my family and I to come help out on the farm regularly,” Neva Grace said. “Some of my very first memories on the farm were helping them pick sweet potatoes and enjoying them together as a family.” Neva Grace and her family also have a tradition of attending the N.C. State Fair each year, where they are more interested in the agricultural exhibits than the rides. “We always milk the cows at the N.C. State University booth and learn all about their importance to the dairy industry,” she said. “We also walk through the Expo Center every year to see the giant pumpkins and other crops as well as the Graham Building to see all the livestock.” Although her parents educated her in agriculture at a young age, Neva Grace didn’t fall in love with the industry and choose to call it her home until her high school years when FFA and horticulture spoke to her heart. ...
Western
(Buncombe) NCDA&CS grant aims to help farmers grow Chinese medicinal herbs in N.C.
Researchers tend to organically grown Chinese medicinal herb root crops at the Mountain Research Station in Waynesville. Chinese medicinal herbs are known for being a natural and holistic way to treat what ails you. As demand grows for those types of herbs in the United States, agricultural research is exploring how to help North Carolina farmers not only grow the herbs but grow them on a large enough scale to be a profitable endeavor. That’s the main goal of one particular research project – a relatively new project that comes after decades of interest and research efforts. So far, the research shows it’s not a far-fetched idea for Chinese medicinal herbs to become a profitable crop in the state. For starters, there are geographic and climatological similarities between western North Carolina and areas in China where medicinal herbs grow. “The goal is to contribute to the limited commercial production resources that are available for growing Chinese herbs in North Carolina,” explained N.C. State University researcher Dr. Jeanine Davis. “Just like with so many other herbs, when people go to produce them commercially, the material available to them is all home-gardener information, and what works for a few plants or a little home garden isn’t necessarily practical or feasible on a commercial scale. So that’s what we’re trying to do is help with production on a commercial scale and provide a new opportunity for farmers to explore a new crop.” …
(Transylvania) A familiar face rises to lead engineering services for Soil & Water Conservation Division
The Division of Soil and Water Conservation in NCDA&CS has a new – yet familiar – leader in its Engineering Services Section. Rachel Smith was promoted to the section chief position this summer. Generally speaking, her job entails overseeing the regional engineers throughout the state. Those engineers provide technical assistance to local soil and water conservation districts when those districts have projects that need engineering design. “The jobs allows me to grow professionally while also maintaining relationships and the ability to see the results of what I’m doing on a close personal level instead of being so detached from the work that I do and the impact that it has.” There are eleven regional engineer positions (although four are vacant right now), three engineering technicians and two other support positions in the section, for a total of 15. “My job is to manage all of those people and the workload that comes in from the 96 districts to be sure we get the work completed,” Smith said. …