Prior to Hurricane Irene making landfall on Saturday, we heard from John Burleson, independent crop consultant and agronomist in Hyde County, near Swan Quarter, NC, about the preparations that were being made for the storm. When we heard from Burleson last week, he told us then that salt water sitting in fields was a major concern:
“How long this tide water stays in is going to determine how soybeans fare and cotton, too. We had some cotton that was competely under for two or three days, that’s still a big concern, and salt water intrusion is a problem.”
And there was a significant tract of land that saw a major storm surge:
“There’s probably a 3,000 acre block of land that saw that kind of a storm surge, so that’s not good. That’s just not good.”
John Burleson, independent crop consultant and agronomist in Hyde County.
NC’s First Ethanol Plant Receives Foreclosure Bids
The foreclosure sale of North Carolina's first ethanol plant is drawing an opening bid about equal to the loan guarantees that taxpayers gave as an incentive to develop renewable energy sources. The Fayetteville Observer reported Wednesday, that the Clean Burn Fuels plant in the works since 2005 brought a $35 million bid from its primary lender during a foreclosure sale.
The plant had received $35 million in loan guarantees from USDA in 2007. Millions more came from a bank loan and private investors.
Job Growth
Employers in the private sector added less than 100,000 jobs this month. The ADP National Employment Report showed that job growth slowed for a second month in a row. Economist Stuart Hoffman, Chief Economist for PNC Financial, is cautiously optimistic that companies will gradually increase the number of people they're hiring.
“A rise of 91,000 is mediocre, but still shows that the small businesses and medium businesses did not bar their doors from doing some modest hiring.”
Gleaned Sweet Potatoes Being Delivered to the Needy
It's a sweet time for residents in the rural Berkeley County community of Pinopolis, South Carolina as a church has a pile of sweet potatoes free for the taking.
The Post and Courier of Charleston reported the sweet potatoes, donated by the Society of St. Andrew in Big Island, Virginia were dropped off earlier this week at Wesley United Methodist Church. The society coordinates volunteers who gather crops left in the fields after harvesting, a process called gleaning. The crops are then distributed in areas with needy residents.
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