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STREET ADDRESS Johnston County 2736 NC 210 Hwy Smithfield, NC 27577 (919) 989-5380 Phone (919) 934-2698 Fax Map & Mailing Information Recent Tweets MT @pittgardening: It's time to prune muscadine grapes. More on muscadine grape care at [more] #CoopExt 
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Johnston County Ag Report February 20, 2012
The Johnston County Ag Report is edited weekly by Agricultural Extension Agents at the Johnston County Extension Center. If you have any questions about the content, please call the Extension Center at 919-989-5380. Contributors: Tim Britton, Extension Agent – Field Crops Dan Wells, Extension Agent – Livestock Amie Newsome, Extension Agent – Horticulture Shawn Banks, Extension Agent – Horticulture Bryant Spivey, County Extension Director Disclaimer: The mention of companies, products or brand names in this publication does not imply endorsement by North Carolina State University nor does it discriminate against similar products and services not mentioned. Regional Peanut Production Meeting-February 27, 2012
The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service in Johnston, Wilson, Wayne, Harnett, and Greene are inviting all growers to attend the regional peanut production meeting on Monday, February 27, 2012. The meeting will be held at the West Farm at 1365 NC 222 East, Fremont, NC 27830. This will be about 2 miles east of Fremont. Peanut varieties and insect and disease management, and weed control will be discussed. A sponsored meal will be served and continuing education credits will be offered for pesticide applicators. Pre-registration is required for the meeting. Please mark your calendar and call the Johnston County Extension Center at (919) 989-5380 to let us know that you are coming. Interactive Pesticide Training-March 9, 2012 The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service in Johnston County is inviting all commercial and private applicators, dealers, consultants, and public ground operators to attend an Interactive Pesticide Training class. This two-hour class will be held at the Johnston County Livestock Arena on March 9th. The arena is located at 520 County Home Road, Smithfield, NC 27577. The class will begin at 1:00 PM. Please bring your Pesticide Credit Report Card with the barcode to this class. Please call Tim Britton at 989-5380 for more information about the credits to be offered. First on the Scene For Farm Families-March 3, 10:00 AM-3:00 PM (lunch included)
North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service is inviting all farm families and other interested parties to a free Farm Family Emergency Response Training at the Sampson County Livestock Facility on March 3, 2012. Gary Baggett with Live Fire training Solutions will be our speaker. The class will start at 10:00 and consist of classroom exercises followed by lunch and safety demonstrations. The class will offer 1 hour of pesticide credit for private applicators and if you are a volunteer fireman, 4 hour training certificates will be offered. Please register by calling Patricia Bunch at 910-592-7161 by February 24, 2012.
Sampson County Livestock Facility 93 Agriculture Place Clinton, NC, 28328
Grape Vine Pruning Demonstration
The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service in Johnston County is inviting you to come learn how to grow productive muscadine vines from Dr. Sara Spayd, Grape Production Specialist from NC State University. The training will be held on February 25th at 10:00 at Gregory Vineyard, 275 Bowling Spring Drive, Angier, NC 27501. Her talk will cover selecting productive, disease-resistant cultivars, cultural management to maximize yield and quality, and some marketing considerations. For more information and to register for the event call 989-5380 or e-mail shawn_banks@ncsu.edu.
Pesticide and Household Hazardous Waste Disposal Day
Need to clean out the barn, the chemical storage building, pantry or underneath the sink. On April 28, 2012 North Carolina Cooperative Extension in Partnership with Johnston County Solid Waste and the NCDA will hold a Pesticide and Household Hazardous Waste Disposal Day. The event will take place at the Johnston County Livestock Arena at 520 County Home Road in Smithfield from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Acceptable items include old and unused pesticides, household cleaners, fluorescent (high TCLP mercury) lamps and bulbs from homeowners and all types of household batteries i.e. Nickel-Cadmium, Lithium, Alkaline and Metal Hydride. In addition, we will be accepting oil base paint only from the public but not latex. Oil base paint has a volatile organic odor and can only be washed-off with solvent, such as mineral spirits or kerosene. Latex paint, however, will wash-off with water. If the label is still attached it will indicate oil base vs. latex. Again, we will only be accepting oil base paint and aerosol paints. The latex paint is a non hazardous household liquid that can be solidified with sand, soil or kitty litter and disposed of in the landfill.
Farm Equipment and Farm Product Transportation
On April 5th, 2012, Trooper L. D. Mcleod will speak at our Agri-Business Meeting. He will talk about transporting farm equipment and farm products safely and legally. The meeting will be held at the Johnston County Ag Center and will start at 6:00 PM with a sponsored meal. We ask that you call the Extension office at 989-5380 to register for this meeting. USDA Announces CRP General Sign-Up USDA will conduct a four-week Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general signup, beginning on March 12 and ending on April 6. CRP is a voluntary program available to agricultural producers to help them use environmentally sensitive land for conservation benefits. For more info visit a local FSA service center or www.usda.fsa.gov. Dr. Mike Boyette to Speak at Johnston County Agribusiness Meeting-March 1, 2012
Johnston County 4-H Livestock Judging Team
The Johnston County 4-H Livestock Judging Team competed in the NC Junior Hereford Association's Judging in January contest held January 28 at the Beef Education Unit at North Carolina State University. Over 150 4-H and FFA members from across NC participated in the contest. Participants evaluated and ranked 9 classes of cattle, sheep, goats and lambs and presented two sets of oral reasons to an official judge. The Johnston County Senior Team (ages 14-18) ranked fourth overall. Senior Team members were Don Byrd of Angier, Joy Leigh Hinnant of Kenly, and Shelby Bireley of Four Oaks. Individually, Don Byrd ranked eighth and Joy Leigh Hinnant ranked ninth. In the Junior Division (ages 9-13) Johnston County had two four-person teams. Team A finished first and was comprised of Macy Massengill of Princeton, Daniel Wellons of Princeton, Sarah Allen of Four Oaks, and Travis Anderson of Four Oaks. Individually, Macy Massengill finished first and Daniel Wellons third, respectively. Team B finished fourth and was comprised of Cierra Bireley of Four Oaks, Kodi Bireley of Four Oaks, Katelyn Brewer of Wendell, and Brittney Beasley of Four Oaks. Cierra Bireley ranked ninth individually. The teams were coached by Johnston County Livestock Extension Agent Dan Wells.
NC Cooperative Extension, NC Farm Bureau Team Up
Looking for an alternative to the 1990’s video to train your Spanish-speaking workers on pesticide safety? Want a training program that prepares workers for your specific crop and workplace—with up-to-date pesticide information for North Carolina? Then plan to attend one of six workshops offered this winter all across North Carolina to prepare you to use the Pesticides and Farmworker Health Toolkit! Workshops will offer 3 hours of pesticide applicator credit for the following categories: Private Specialty Training (X), Dealers (D), Regulatory (I), Ornamental/Turf (L), Ag Pest Plant (O), and Demonstration and Research (N). NC Cooperative Extension and the NC Farm Bureau Safety Team are excited to collaborate on these workshops.
The Pesticides and Farmworker Health Toolkit is a pesticide education resource for EPA-approved Worker Protection Standard (WPS) training of Spanish-speaking farmworkers. It was developed by Extension specialists, Dr. Catherine LePrevost, Julia Storm, and Dr. Greg Cope in the NC State University Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology with funding from NCDA’s Pesticide Environmental Trust Fund. Toolkits are available in Spanish and English for 11 hand labor-intensive North Carolina crops, including apples, bell peppers, blueberries, Christmas trees, cucumbers, grapes, landscape/turf, strawberries, sweetpotatoes, tobacco, and tomatoes. The Toolkit features a colorful, illustrated flipchart with leaders guide, a one-page handout with essential safety messages, and interactive learning activities including jug-labeling and symptom charades. A bilingual poster is also available for purchase.
Registration for this workshops is required and space is limited, so call now to reserve your space! The closes workshops for Johnston County will be offered:
Date/Time: March 5, 9 am to 12:30pm (Breakfast sponsored by Cumberland County Farm Bureau; Interpretation sponsored by NC Grower's Association)
Date/Time: March 15, 9 am - 12 pm (Lunch sponsored by County Farm Bureaus)
Information sessions with Lowes Foods/ MDI for local growers
The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Marketing group is hosting FOUR information sessions with key personnel from the Lowes Foods grocery chain and (MDI) Merchants Distributor being on-hand to provide information direct to North Carolina Growers. The first session is scheduled for February 29th. Growers from counties within close proximity to each session are invited to attend. The Farmer meetings will be geared towards those farmers/growers that are interested in selling to Lowes Foods and MDI. Topics to be addressed are guidelines that Lowes and MDI require for you, as a farmer, selling to their stores. Lowes Foods Executive Director of Produce and MDI’s Director of Produce will be on hand to address the criteria they require. Examples Include: Liability insurance, Gap Certification, etc. Please do not allow any of these guidelines to keep you from the meeting, as we have designed these meetings to be informative as to these topics. Marketing Horticulture Specialist from our staff will be giving a presentation on how to become Gap Certified and other grower type information. There will be a question and answer session, and possible one-on-one sessions, if time permits. Lunch will be provided by the “Got to be NC” Goodness Grows Program.
We are planning 4 sessions throughout the state covering specific counties at each. All meetings will be held from 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM with lunch provided.
There is no cost associated with these meetings; however you will need to reserve your space. Reservations are required 1 week or more from the date of the session you would like to attend. Call or email the following contacts to reserve your space.
SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans Available in North Carolina
ATLANTA - The U.S. Small Business Administration announced today that federal economic injury disaster loans are available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and most private non-profit organizations of all sizes located in North Carolina as a result of drought and excessive heat that occurred from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2011.
These loans are available in the counties of Alamance, Beaufort, Bertie, Brunswick, Bladen, Camden, Carteret, Caswell, Chatham, Chowan, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Duplin, Durham, Dare, Davidson, Forsyth, Franklin, Gates, Granville, Greene, Guilford, Halifax, Harnett, Hertford, Hoke, Hyde, Johnston, Jones, Lee, Lenoir, Martin, Montgomery, Moore, Nash, New Hanover, Northampton, Onslow, Orange, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Pender, Person, Pitt, Randolph, Richmond, Robeson, Rockingham, Sampson, Scotland, Stokes, Tyrrell, Vance, Wake, Warren, Washington, Wayne and Wilson.
“When the Secretary of Agriculture issues a disaster declaration to help farmers recover from damages and losses to crops, the Small Business Administration issues a declaration to eligible entities affected by the same disaster,” said Frank Skaggs, director of SBA’s Field Operations Center East in Atlanta.
Under this declaration, the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program is available to eligible
The loan amount can be up to $2 million with interest rates of 3 percent for private non-profit organizations of all sizes and 4 percent for small businesses, with terms up to 30 years. The SBA determines eligibility based on the size of the applicant, type of activity and its financial resources. Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are based on each applicant’s financial condition. These working capital loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other bills that could have been paid had the disaster not occurred. The loans are not intended to replace lost sales or profits.
Disaster loan information and application forms may be obtained by calling the SBA’s Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 (800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard-of-hearing) or by sending an email to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov. Loan applications can be downloaded from www.sba.gov. Completed applications should be mailed to: U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155.
Those affected by the disaster may also apply for disaster loans electronically from SBA’s website at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/.
Completed loan applications must be returned to SBA no later than October 9, 2012.
NC Value Added Cost Share grants
The North Carolina Value-Added Cost Share (NCVACS) program, administered by N.C. MarketReady, is now accepting applications for the 2012 equipment cost share funding cycle. The program, funded by the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, provides up to $50,000 to agricultural producers and processors seeking to purchase specialized equipment to start or grow a value-added operation. A value-added agricultural product is a raw, agricultural commodity that has been changed in some manner so that it no longer can be returned to its original state. This change results in increased market value, allowing the producer to receive a higher price for these value-added products compared to the original commodity. Cheese (from milk), wine (from grapes) and bread (from grains) are a few examples. The NCVACS program works hand-in-hand with the USDA Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) by reducing the costs of equipment purchases that are not funded by the USDA grant. The 2012 cost share cycle allows value-added producers and processors to apply for funding to purchase new or used equipment. Equipment cost share awards will vary from 25 to 50 percent of the total cost of the equipment, up to a maximum of $50,000. Continuing from the 2011 funding cycle, the programs expanded guidelines for value-added products include non-standard production methods (such as organic), physical product segregation, keeping genetically modified (GM) corn separate from non-GM corn, farm-based renewable energy and some locally produced food products. Examples of equipment previously funded include an aging cooler for meats, pasteurizing machinery for goat milk, a seasoning applicator for roasted soybeans and fermentation tanks for producing wines. Applications for the NCVACS 2012 equipment cost share are available online at http://plantsforhumanhealth.ncsu.edu/extension/cost-share. Applications are due by March 1, 2012. Guidelines and a list of frequently asked questions can be found on the website.
Horse Blog
There is a new Extension Horse Blog, which started up the first week of July. Agents from across the state will have articles on management, nutrition and forages, health care and diseases, reproduction/breeding/foaling, and other topics every week. There is also a links page with resources. The blog can be found at http://nchorse.blogspot.com/.
SFNToday.com
SFNToday.com is pleased to provide headline Ag News and Market reports via RSS feed subscription. This free, simple subscription will deliver headlines to your Outlook email, Google or Yahoo! home page, your Favorite Bookmark tool bar list or your favorite handheld device. Visit the http://www.SFNToday.com home page and click on the RSS button, choose the delivery method you prefer and hit “Subscribe”… it’s easy and free to receive Ag news headlines directly – when and where you need it. We ask visitors to list events on the Calendar, send in suggestions and community photos… This is an important time in America’s agricultural history and we want to hear from the growers and producers “in the fields”! Visit www.SFNToday.com and tell us what you think!
Organic Certification Cost-Share Program
NCDA & CS is responsible for implementing the Organic Certification Cost-Share Program, which assists organic growers with the cost of becoming certified under the National Organic Program. For any certification occurring between October 1, 2010 and September 30, 2011, NCDA & CS will pay 75% of the certification cost, up to $750. This program is funded through a grant and is on a first come, first serve basis. Please help us spread the word to growers that this funding is available. If you have any questions, please call Heather Lifsey, Marketing Specialist, NCDA & CS at 919-707-3127 or email at Heather.Lifsey@ncagr.gov.
Hay Directories
There are two web site directories for people selling haying or looking for hay to buy. It is free to list your hay for sale. 1. North Carolina Department of Agriculture’s Hay Alert is at http://www.agr.state.nc.us/hayalert/. Producers can call the Hay Alert at 1-866-506-6222 or you can sign up to list your hay on-line. 2. The Southeastern NC Hay Directory is available at http://onslow.ces.ncsu.edu/files/library/67/HayDirectory.pdf. Call your Extension Agent to learn how to include your farm on the list.
NC State Tobacco Connection
The Tobacco Specialists at NC State University are publishing a newsletter called the “NC State Tobacco Connection.” The latest version has just been released and contains production information on sucker control for flue-cured tobacco. Interested individuals can access the newsletter from http://www.tobacco.ncsu.edu/connection.html. If you would like a printed copy mailed to your address just contact the Johnston County Extension Center at 919-989-5380.
North Carolina growers: Would you like some signs?
In order to make consumers aware of the availability of local berries and “brand” fresh, local NC strawberries in consumers’ minds, the NC Strawberry Association has created some colorful, professionally designed signs for North Carolina growers. These signs are free and you do not need to be members of the Association to receive them (though you will receive more signs if they are) but you MUST contact the association and confirm your strawberry acreage, contact information, and interest in receiving the signs. Contact NC Strawberry Association, info@ncstrawberry.com or 919-542-4037, 1138 Rock Rest Rd., Pittsboro, NC 27312. This project received support from the NCDA&CS as part of the Specialty Crop Block Grant program. For NC growers only (though the Association has stickers and coloring books others may want to order).
Certified Safe Farm Reviews
Farming is a critically important sector of the economy in Johnston County and in North Carolina. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most dangerous occupations in the country. In 2005, agriculture had the highest occupational fatality rate (32.5/100,000 workers). This is an industry in need of an innovative program like Certified Safe Farm (CSF). Everyday farmers face hazardous work and living environments and through this voluntary program we aim to improve the health and well-being of farmers and their families while offering an innovative combination of benefits for farmers and their public and private sector partners.
Free Training Through JC
Do you need training in computer skills to better run your business? Do you have a family member that needs training to get a job? If you are a current or former tobacco farmer or quota holder, you and members of your family may be eligible for funding through the Project Skill UP program at Johnston Community College to take a variety of short-term courses to better run your farming business or retrain for other employment. This opportunity is provided through the NC Community Colleges and the NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission. For more information, please contact Rosa Andrews at 919-209-2015 or rsandrews@johnstoncc.edu.
Woodland Owners Update- Join the NCSU Extension Forestry’s Woodland Owners Update, Our New Email Listserv.
To better serve woodland owners in North Carolina, NCSU Extension Forestry has created a new listserv “Woodland Owners Update”. This service updates you directly through email on woodland owner events throughout the state. We also inform you on current and new publications as they come out. Informed landowners make the right decisions about their woodlands and we are dedicated to providing NC woodland owners the best information available. If you would like to join Woodland Owners Update, please visit our website for more details and registration: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/forestry/list.html
Beaver Management Assistance Program
Johnston County participates in the beaver management and assistance program conducted by the USDA. County, state, and federal monies provide the program designed to give individual technical assistance and advice to landowners with beaver problems. Property inspection and consultation is free. Consultation may include showing the landowner how to trap beavers and destroy dams. For work that the USDA actually conducts, landowners will be charged a fee for each visit to the site and a set amount for each dam destroyed. USDA will do all or part of the work.
Interested landowners should call or contact Tim Britton with the Johnston County Cooperative extension service at (919) 989-5380 or by email at Tim_Britton@ncsu.edu. |
