North Carolina

Oregon State University’s Ken Johnson, Professor in the College of Agricultural Sciences will participate in a webinar Wednesday, focused on the effective use of non-antibiotic controls and biopesticides for Fire Blight control.  Wednesday’s event is part of a national research project on Fire Blight involving Oregon, Washington, California, Michigan, North Carolina and New York.   This week’s ...

In his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Biden declared before Congress.    “The state of the union is strong...”   “...and we're here today to ensure that it continues to strengthen agriculture,” added Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack when he spoke this week to an audience at North Carolina A&T University.  The Secretary was talking about a number of i...

The H-2A program continues to grow in popularity, or necessity, in farm country.  American agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers can fill seasonal farm jobs with temporary foreign workers through the H-2A Visa Program.  The Dep...

According to ERS, American farmers who want to hire temporary foreign workers through the H-2A visa program usually work with a third party.  The new data announced this week indicated the third parties, such as agents, associations or a lawyer, are used to make the applications.  Employe...

The National FFA Organization announced this week a record-high student membership number of 850,823, a 15% year-over-year increase.  In addition, chapter numbers increased by 178, resulting in 8,995 chapters in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin...

The state of Idaho has a new Bureau of Land Management director. In her new role, Karen Kelleher will oversee approximately 12 million acres of public lands, representing nearly one-fourth of the state's total land area, for multiple uses including livestock grazing, mining, conservation and recreation ...

For poultry producers, backyard and commercial, "...if you have not recently reviewed your biosecurity plan, now is a really good time to do that," noted Dr. Rosemary Sifford with APHIS. That' warning coming as USDA has confirmed some more wild birds carrying the highly pathogenic avian influenza ...

According to NASS, wheat plantings increased 3% across the Pacific Northwest this year, while acres planted nationwide increased 2%. Idaho growers planted 760,000 acres of winter wheat for the 2022 crop, up 7% from 2021, and 6% above the 2020 crop ...

A three-judge panel unanimously dismissed a challenge to the North Carolina “Right to Farm” Act. According to National Hog Farmer, the challenge was brought by the Rural Empowerment Association for Community Help, North Carolina Environmental Justice Community Action Network, and Waterkeeper Alliance in 2019. The ruling ...

With the holidays getting underway next month, the word from Christmas tree growers is that there should be enough real Christmas trees for everybody who wants one. But, Chal Landgren, Oregon State University Christmas tree expert, says there probably won’t be a surplus this year, at least in the Pacific Northwest. He ...