in the News 2009
Hopping along: Hops farming comes to WNC
Cowzilla may be the only local hops lover who didn’t make an appearance at the inaugural Hops Farm Tour. The huge feral cow, christened Cowzilla by Julie Jensen, co-owner of Echo View at Landfair Farm in Weaverville, may have been intimidated by the more than 100 growers, home brewers and beer lovers… – Mountain Xpress, September 30, 2009
Diversifying farm operations with wncagoptions grant funding
There is help for farmers who want to diversify their farms. Grants totaling $225,000 are available to WNC farmers who are diversifying or expanding their operations in 2010. WNC Agricultural Options, which will award approximately 45 farmers in 17 counties and the Cherokee Reservation… – Yancey Common Times Journal, August 26, 2009.
Hops: A future cash crop?
Van Burnette’s land has been in his family for 200 years, and has been operating as farmland for a century. His ancestors were some of the first settlers in Swannanoa Valley. Today, Burnette is a pioneer in his own right, as one of the first [modern] farmers in Western North Carolina to commercially grow hops, an ingredient for beer. -Black Mountain News, August 20, 2009.
Keeping the family farm intact: Alumna’s savvy management, conservation strategies keep her on Cloud 9.
Janet Peterson lives on Cloud 9, literally. After a 31-year teaching career in Buncombe County schools, Peterson ’76 (Literature/ K-9 Education) has returned to her family’s farming roots, and transformed her late parents’ 200-acre Fairview farm, Cloud 9. – UNC Asheville Magazine, Spring/Summer 2009.
Preserving Traditions
…the North Carolina Cooperative Extension also supports local farmers. It promotes a program called Western North Carolina Agricultural Options (wncagoptions), funded by the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission. The program awards grants to farmers to help them expand or diversify…
-Mission-Based Investor: A Publication of Community Capital Management, Inc., Spring 2009
The Farm Girls
Maybe it’s a woman thing, to be able to feed your family. Maybe it’s the state of the economy or the world. but I have this incessant drive to learn how to do this,” Lauren Meijia tells me. – Western North Carolina Woman, August 2009
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Ingle’s offering farm fresh local produce
Ingles Markets is turning into a local farmer’s market of sorts. The Asheville-based grocery store chain last month began carrying strawberries from Kaleb Rathbone’s Fines Creek farm in its Waynesville, Canton and Hazlewood stores. – Asheville Citizen Times, July 2, 2009
Ingle’s markets offer Haywood County produce
It started quietly enough, but it’s big news for Haywood County farmers. Thanks to Ingles Markets, shoppers can once again buy Haywood County produce in Haywood County grocery stores. – Waynesville Enterprise Mountaineer, June 19, 2009
WNC wncagoptions announced
Farmers diversify, try local markets to remain viable. Nearly 50 farmers in the mountain region recently received funding totaling $225,000 from Western North Carolina Agricultural Options to demonstrate ways to enhance farm businesses. – Mitchell News Journal, June 2009
WNC AgOptions awards funding to Local Farmers
Farmers diversify, try local markets to remain viable. Nearly 50 farmers in the mountain region recently received funding totaling $225,000 from Western North Carolina Agricultural Options to demonstrate ways to enhance farm businesses. – High Country Press, April 2, 2009
Four Yancey farmers get grants to diversify farms, expands local markets
Four Yancey farmers are among the nearly 50 in the mountain region that recently received funding totaling $225,000 from Western North Carolina Options to demonstrate ways to enhance farm businesses. – Yancey Times Journal, April 8, 2009