Celebrate What's Great in NC! Agriculture!

For those of you who don’t know, the North Carolina State Fair 2011 kicked off last weekend on the 13^th. For some of you, the fair may bring back old memories of that Ferris wheel ride with a loved one, biscuits for breakfast and bbq sandwiches for lunch on church row, midway games of challenge and skill, or more recently, the deep fried foods. However for me, I can still remember the first time I attended with my family. Coming from a predominately rural background, I had seen and was somewhat familiar with livestock and crops, but I couldn’t wait to see the blue ribbon winners at the fair for all sorts of categories. This was not only my favorite part of the fair, but has been for many people way back when the North Carolina AGRICULTURAL fair was first held by the North Carolina Agricultural Society in 1853. In that time, the fair was mostly state wide agricultural shows for crops, livestock, gardening, and horse pulls. The North Carolina State Fair has always revolved around our state’s agricultural community. Being held in the fall was no coincidence, because that was the harvest season. Folks from all over the state would bring, what they thought, was the biggest of whatever they were bringing (vegetable competitions), or the prettiest of whatever they were showing (livestock judging) to the fair in hopes of receiving a prize ribbon. The State Fair has celebrated what North Carolina is doing in Agriculture every year. Now, you can find everything from chicken and duck shows, other livestock shows, tractor and draft horse pulls, demolition derbys, food galore, rides and games, concerts and entertainment shows, and tons of community service booths and vendors. All of this derived from the North Carolina agricultural fair way back when and we need to keep it based around what feeds our state, and where our economic strength should be, Agriculture.

So when you attend the fair this year, or the next time you go, please remember that this fair is celebrating what is great in our state. Agriculture. Goodness Grows In NC.  If you have never ever seen an agricultural exhibit, or even noticed an animal or vegetable at the fair, I challenge you to go into one this year! Who knows, it might spark a love a-fair passion for agriculture. 

Preserve our farmlands! We're running out!

Friends of agriculture,


        Today I want to bring to your attention that we very plainly are running out of farmland. Between the years 1990 and 2002 we loss one million acres of farmland. Since 2002, we have roughly loss 600,000 acres of farmland and over 6,000 farms in North Carolina, making us the leading state in the nation for farm loss. Well since then, our great Agricultural Commissioner and his team have come up with a solution. The North Carolina Agricultural and Farmland Preservation Trust fund. This today is our topic of discussion.

The NC Ag and Farmland Preservation trust fund was passed in the general assembly in March, 2005. Its main purpose is to fund and aid the farming, forestry, and horticultural communities in the agriculture industry. Its main goals were,   1. To support the purchase of agriculture conservation easements.                                  2. Funding for public and private entrepreneurial programs that will promote profitable and sustainable family farms through assistance to farmers in developing and implementing plans for the production of food, fiber, value added products, agritourism activities, marketing and sales of agricultural products produced on the farm, and other agriculturally related business activities.                     3. Funding conservation easements targeted at the active production of food, fiber, and other agricultural commodities.



Now you may say, well what does this have to do with a regular citizen like me? Well let me give you a run down of numbers that may hit home a little bit.

Seventeen percent of North Carolina's workforce is enrolled in an agriculture or agribusiness related job. A little over twenty percent of the whole state's income comes from this number one industry with it bringing in $70 billion annually. Also, the state's forestry products industry is the largest manufacturing industry in North Carolina. We also have $8.6 billion contributed to the state's economy from the green industry.

So now you may have a little bit better understanding of just how farmland preservation affects you directly. It affects our state's economy big time, which ultimately affects YOUR bank account as a consumer living in our agriculturally rich state. Please look up the legislation and educate yourself on what we all can do as citizens in this great state to keep our farmlands and forests preserved for generations to come.

Where do new farmers and agriculturalists get their education?

     A very simple answer to the above question would be either a higher education institute or a government agency. I would first like to start with young farmers and producers. They begin their knowledge, just like I did, in CTE programs in high schools and so forth. CTE stands for Career and Technical Education. As you can probably guess, these courses are classes about what I consider, necessary skills in our world today. Some CTE courses include, Agriculture courses, Natural Resources,  Family and Consumer Science, Health Occupations, Business and Management, Construction and Carpentry, Auto Mechanics, among others offered. These courses, I would say, are the back bone and driving force of our society today. These are the courses who spark passions in students in the fields of trade, industry, health, agriculture, and food and domestic arts. Not everyone may know of these courses, but they have been around for years.

     Many people, among other educators in the fields of the common core subjects, may say that CTE programs are a thing of the past, and all that our students need are reading, writing, and arithmetic. Well I am here to tell you they are wrong.

     First of all, we will always need people such as doctors, nurses, farmers, producers, mechanics, food administrators and conservationists. As well as people who know how to fix our cars, and build us homes. Career and Technical Education programs provide a basis and an introduction to these above fields as well as a starting point to be able to obtain a career in any of them.

     Another example of why people should not cast away CTE programs is because who is to say every course does not teach or provide a starting point for all careers. Does it not take science courses for any type of scientist to get the starting point they need? What about history, who is to say it is not a career education class that educates people so that they can better make sure we do not make the same mistakes in the future. In every career, you need to know some basis of reading, writing, and mathematics. So who are we, to shun CTE courses just because of a general level of knowledge, that they may be "second hand" education courses. When in reality, every school subject is the starting point of some career in our society today.

How safe is your food? Where exactly does it come from and what is in it?

So, if I was to ask you all how safe your food is, you would all probably say, "Eh, safe I guess." Well I am here to tell you that looks can be deceiving.

Where does your food come from? Some of you might say the obvious choice, the grocery store, others may know that it at least comes from a farm, or a so called "farm". I am here to inform you that most of the food you eat in fact comes from a "factory farm". Now what is that? Well it is basically a farm, but almost 100 percent indoors. Some livestock that are raised at these places never see the sun, step foot on the ground, or feel a natural breeze. Some would say, "well who cares, as long as I am fed". Well that my friend is your dying words. In fact, by producing livestock and produce in these places, they are naturally more prone to illnesses and injuries. Just because of the close proximity to other beings in very poor and unsanitary conditions. So do you still want to consume these products? I think not.

Another problem with "industrial agriculture" as the government refers to them as, is the quality of inputs they are putting in our livestock. They are using corn and soybean products to feed these animals. While this is fine for poultry, it is not so much for cattle and hogs. Cows are ruminant animals, meaning they have four stomachs to better digest forages such as grasses and hay. Hogs are simple stomached animals who can eat just about anything, within moderation. These factory farms are stuffing these large mammals full of corn and soybean products, and the worst part, antibiotics and steroids. Yes most of you probably have never even tasted naturally grass fed beef, or free roaming pork, but it is way healthier than what we are predominately being fed.

Now on the grand scheme of things, what does this mean for you? It means that we need to get educated. We need to learn exactly where our food is coming from, and we need to make sure that it is regulated, which is not happening now exponentially. We need to support localized agriculture because in reality, it is way healthier and it supports local jobs and communities. Now I am not saying you have to eat all organic and sustained food (that would be great), I am just saying take a little bit more care of what you are putting into your body and knowing exactly where it is all coming from. After all, a healthy meal is a good meal.


Just a little insight from a concerned consumer and supporter of LOCAL and SUSTAINABLE Agriculture!

                                                                                    Ag Enthusiast,
                                                                                                      T. E. Jones

Possibility of Sustainability in agriculture= 100%

To some of you, agriculture may mean a hassle and a very inconvenient way of producing food and fiber. But in reality, it is actually quite different. Today I want to introduce what may very well be a brand new idea to some of you, sustainable agriculture. A very useful idea that I have really strived to learn more about in hopes of one day practicing myself. Webster’s define sustainability as: of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged. Sustainable agriculture is exactly that. In my own words, sustainable agriculture is the act of cultivating, producing, and raising food and fiber products without the use of extreme harmful chemicals and unnecessary harvesting techniques. This may also bring the word “organic” to mind. Organic and sustainable are very closely related terms. To have a sustainable agriculture operation is to have different commodities that rely on one another on one farm. Basically, this means directly using a commodity that you have produced on your farm to produce another. Think of it this way. You have a five acre grassy property that you want to use for a sustainable agriculture operation. This would be a very easy to do task with low investments and little land to use. You use half of your property to raise quality hay or some other type of grain. You use the other half for beef cattle. As you can probably piece together, what you would do is use the grain for harvesting hay as well as for whatever grain it be for consumption such as corn, wheat, or barley. You would use the excess of that grain to bale into hay to feed your cattle. Along with the grass your cattle are grazing, and the supplements of the hay, you do not have to use finances to feed those cows. In return, the waste of those animals can be used for all natural, or organic, fertilizer. My suggestion would be switch the halves of the land for the cows and crops every other year in order to produce the best yield to acre percentages. This here is sustainable agriculture.

Now, what does that mean for you as the consumer, or possibly even a sustainable agriculturalist? It is simple. As the consumer, if there were more local sustainable farms in our state, the economic and social benefits would perpetuate the local economy. If you had a farm practicing sustainability in your area, this would mean lower food costs due to local food production, higher property values, and the best thing of all is that there is very little to obsolete waste on these operations which would not harm the environment in any way. This you can tell would benefit across the board.

So for those of you who really are intrigued, and want to further your research by putting sustainable practices in to play, your opportunities are wide spread. By having a sustainable agriculture operation, you can have a very possibly easy second income on just a small piece of land. You can also receive many federal and state land grants and subsidies for doing this which would even lower your initial investments and costs. Also by having your very own sustainable agriculture operation, you can easily produce food and maybe fiber for your own family and know exactly where those products are coming from and being able to say that you made them right there locally which could also bring in other people and families who would want to buy such commodities from your farm.

Hurricane Irene's affect on our state and what it means for you.

As many of you know, Hurricane Irene had a massive destructive impact on our state as well as many states all along the Eastern United States coast. But what you may not realize, is the effect it had on our agriculture communities. In North Carolina alone, it has been estimated already that millions of dollars worth of farmland and agricultural commodity businesses have been lost in this storm. Everyone from the tobacco, corn, and cotton farmers, to the poultry and swine producers down east are feeling the pinch of this disaster. It has been reported that soybean crops have fared the best. Legislative officials as well as the Governor, and Agricultural Commisioner all toured North Carolina the day after Irene hit and said it's not looking good in the coming months for agriculture in North Carolina's eastern counties. However, some farmers in the Eastern part of the state took warning of Irene's arrival and went ahead and harvested early. Which ultimately saved money. The tobacco producers that did harvest early still might not of been out of the clear. If their curing barns lost power, and therefore heat, they may still be behind for months on their finished products.

Now, for its pertainment to you and I. With the destruction of so many crops and livestock, obviously you can imagine this isn't good for our state's economy. With this, our food prices here in North Carolina could potencially see increases in the near future. As our state is not the largest corn producer in America, we still manufacture many by-products of corn that is distributed right here. With the loss of so much corn, we will ultimately have to pay more at grocery stores, feed mills for our pets and livestock, as well as some at the pump. I just wanted to warn, or inform you, that when you see a higher grocery bill, know where it is coming from. This is just a little insight for what your pocketbook may feel in the coming months.

Please respond!

                                                                                              Sincerely,
                                                                                                                 T. E. Jones

Introduction and Welcoming

Hello Readers!

     My name is Taylor E. Jones. I am very excited to start my blog about Agriculture Today and hopefully provide you with a little insight on the multi-billion dollar industry and what effects it has on you right here in North Carolina. This post is just for general information and a little about myself. As I said, my name is Taylor Jones. I am a freshman at North Carolina State University studying animal science, poultry science, sociology of agricultural and rural society, as well as agribusiness. My main objective for this blog is to introduce a fairly recognizable topic to you all who may or may not understand its effects on you, myself, our state, and our country as it pertains to us on a 21st century basis. I hope you all will enjoy this blog and please feel free to leave comments and ideas you have. I look forward to hearing from you.
                                                                                                                       Sincerely,  T. E. Jones