The fight to protect food crops against destructive insect pests has become more challenging in recent years, Mills River farming expert Patryk Battle reports. Battle and Boone-based insect scientist Richard McDonald will present a March 31 workshop on when and how organic growers should take drastic measures to deal with damaging insect and disease infestations.
A program of the USDA shares the cost of organic certification with farmers, reducing the burden of obtaining organic certification and accessing a broader market for their produce. A recent change places the administration of the program with the Farm Service Agency, which operates out of 72 local offices across North Carolina.
The Organic Growers School’s Spring Conference is hardly a new event: The annual gathering of farmers, gardeners, homesteaders and assorted sustainability seekers turns 24 this month. But organizers say those attending this year’s edition, whether they’re newbies or longtime conference regulars, will surely dig up some novel information.
With French Broad Electric Membership Corporation set to apply herbicides to the power-line corridor in Madison County, organic farmers in Spring Creek are asking why there isn’t more public input on the way the utility manages the rights-of-way through their farms and near local streams.
In her essay on the hazards attending genetic engineering, author Barbara Kingsolver raises the question: “What will it mean for a handful of agribusinesses to control the world’s ever-narrowing seed banks?” Asheville’s Sow True Seed has an idea, and they’re ready to fight back. (Cathryn Zommer shows off Sow True Seed’s “Harvest Goddess” street puppet, above.)
It was just a matter of time before WNC farmers and the folks at Amy’s East Coast production facility in Greenville, S.C., would start discussing supply and demand. The facility will need a lot of produce to supply when it goes online next summer.
Starting on March 27, 2010, Red Wing Farm will be offering a 4-part series of classes on basic organic gardening, meeting one Saturday per month for the months of March, April, May, and June. The classes are highly interactive, hands-on, participatory, experiential classes to help students learn what they need to know to create a […]
