South Carolina Ag Council

There’s still time to get involved in the fall tour of the South Carolina Ag Council on October 25th. The daylong event gets underway with a tour of Gibson’s Cattle Farm near Westminster, South Carolina’s only organic cattle farm, followed by a demonstration of Red Creek Farm’s working dogs on their farm near Townville after lunch. The tour will cap off with a stop at Happy Cow Creamery in Pelzer. Cost of the tour is $45 and includes bus transportation from the SC Farm Bureau office in Cayce, lunch, beverage and snacks. Tour space is limited, contact Steve Slice at 803-806-3820, ext 116 for more information or to reserve your spot.
 

Scientists Look to Extend Sorghum-Growing Region

Grain Sorghum has made a big splash in the Carolinas this year, and in an effort to expand sorghum’s production range – USDA scientists are looking to increase the crop’s cold tolerance. An Agricultural Research Service plant physiologist has found cold-tolerance genes in Chinese cultivars and is working to develop lines that breeders can use to produce hardy commercial varieties. The hope is that by increasing the cold tolerance of sorghum – its range can be extended beyond the sorghum belt into the Dakotas and west to Colorado. It currently stretches from Texas to Kansas and includes parts of Nebraska, all the way across the south to the east coast.
 
 

NCGA Looking for Corn Board, Scholarship Applicants

The National Corn Growers Association is accepting applications for the 2014 Corn Board and for the NCGA Academic Excellence in Agriculture Scholarship Program. The NCGA Corn Board represents the organization on all matters. Board members supervise the affairs and activities of NCGA in partnership with the CEO and implement NCGA policy established by the Corn Congress. They also act as spokespeople for the organization and enhance the organization’s public standing on all organizational and policy issues. Applications are due January 11th.

Magic Show Teaches Kids about Agriculture at the NC State Fair
 

Agra-cadabra is making it’s second appearance at the NC State Fair…a magic show that focuses on food and agriculture. Magician Brad Matchett:

“We talk about how to find a healthy snack here at the fair, like peanuts so we do a trick with peanuts. Exercise is also essential so we do a jump rope routine. In our big finale, I go inside our blueberry of death, a six foot round balloon.”
 

Find the Agra-cadabra show near Dorton Arena at noon, 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm now through Sunday at the NC State Fair in Raleigh.

Clean Water Activist Meet, List Livestock Producers as Culprits
 

Some of the country's leading conservationists and experts in water quality are in North Carolina this week to discuss the condition of water in the state. Their meeting took place yesterday in Montgomery County on the anniversary of the Clean Water Act. Among them is Maude Barlow, water activist and writer. One of Barlow's concerns for the state is pollution caused by livestock farms.
 

"North Carolina has the heaviest concentration of animals in one place in the world. What it's doing is just pouring an amazing amount of pollution into the local waterways."
 

 Barlow says North Carolina's central coastal plains have 10 million hogs, polluting the waterways with fecal matter and fertilizers. She and others are also concerned about industries on the Yadkin River and the state's recent lift of the ban on fracking.