Farm Tour Shows Customers How their Food is Raised

Jack Pleasant, owner of Sunset Ridge Buffalo Farm in Person County says that his participation in the Annual Piedmont Farm Tour is a way for his customers to learn how their food is raised:
 

“In fact, it’s not uncommon when we take a tour out, have 30 or so on a wagon load, to have one of our customers will be on there and almost do a little commercial for us at the end of the tour. So, we feel that’s a good connection and that’s a good thing for our farmers’ market customers.”
The Annual Piedmont Farm Tour takes place the final weekend of April every year, and is hosted by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association.
 

Fed’s to Test More Beef for E.coli
 

Federal food-regulators say they're going to do more to fight e-coli ("ee KOH'-lye") bacteria in beef: a change that some consumer groups are welcoming today. With the latest, CBS News correspondent Dan Raviv.

“Its all about acting faster. The US Department of Agriculture says it will now start tracing the source of ground beef that might be contaminated as soon as there is one positive test, even before it’s confirmed or can be found in more samples of beef.”
 

Virginia Tech to Host Agroterrorism Conference
 

A conference to discuss how the state and federal governments would deal with a terrorism incident's impact on agriculture is set for next week in Blacksburg.
 

The one-day Virginia Agroterrorism Conference is scheduled for May 9 at The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center.
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services says farmers, veterinarians, food and dairy processors and retailers, and law enforcement officials are among those expected to attend.
 
 

Biofuel Center of NC to be Initiated Today
 

Later today at the Biofuel Center of North Carolina in Oxford, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack will address the group that will gather for the initiation of the campus, the biofuels company accelerator and the Oxford biodiesel plant, as well as a tour. The event gets underway this afternoon at 2:00 pm at the Biofuels Center of North Carolina on Hillsborough Street in Oxford.