Category: Cooperative Extension
Youngest USDA-Certified Farmer Steals Hearts at Small Farms Week 2025
Kendall Rae Johnson’s bubbly personality and cheery smile easily won over the crowd at Small Farms Week 2025.
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Educational Sessions at Small Farms Week Give Farmers Ideas for Growth
Farmers, Extension agents and others interested in small-scale farming gathered recently at the N.C. A&T University Farm to learn about everything from using technology in farming to growing specialty crops.
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Student “Chats” Tackle Agricultural Issues
Friendly, but impassioned, debate on pros and cons of various issues in agriculture engaged students in Ag Chat sessions, held during this year’s Small Farms Week.
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Honey Farm Provides Sweet Ending to 2025 Small Farms Week
About 90 participants journeyed to Secret Garden Bees honey farm in Linden, N.C., which is owned by 2024 Small Farmers of the Year co-winners Jim Hartman and his wife, Christi. Guests were greeted with biscuits – fresh from a wood-burning stove – with honey and jelly, and welcoming remarks from the N.C. Cooperative Extension and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials.
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Small Farms Week ’25 Sparks the “Next Gen” at Warren County Kick-Off
The 39th annual N.C. Small Farms Week festivities kicked off March 24 in Warren County, home of 2024 co-winner of the N.C. Small Farmer of the Year award, Patrick Brown of Brown Family Farms, with a luncheon, networking, and a panel discussion designed to ignite the next generation of growers.
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“Passionate, Knowledgeable, Collaborative”: Granville Couple are 2025 Small Farmers of the Year
When Elvin and Madeline Eaton of Fairport Farm in Kittrell, N.C., decided to try growing produce and microgreens as a retirement venture, they resolved to do things differently on their quarter-acre farm: No tilling, no commercial fertilizers or pesticides, and beds that stayed in place for multiple seasons, rather than rotating.
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Move to Pork Production Allowing More Farmers to Bring Home the Bacon
Moving from one operation to another is a leap of faith for farmers. But, if done with care and under guidance, changing a farm’s main commodity offers both financial and experiential rewards, farmers statewide say.
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Small-Scale Farmers Get Tips on Growing and Promoting Specialty Produce
Peter Smith and his son, Peter Smith, Jr., stopped by the N.C. A&T University Farm on their way back to their Dorchester, S.C., farm recently, hoping to learn more about growing specialty crops on their property.
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More Partnerships, More Empowered People: Cooperative Extension’s Eley Sets Tone for National Organization
Michelle Eley, Ph.D., community and economic development specialist for Cooperative Extension at...
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Senator Berger Gets Look at N.C. A&T’s “Farm of the Future”
When North Carolina Senate Leader Phil Berger wanted to learn more about the way technology is impacting the state’s top economic endeavor, agriculture, he knew where to come: to the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at N.C. A&T.
Read MoreDemetrius Bledsoe, CEO of Harvest 365, is keynote speaker for 2025 Small Farms Week
It was wrestling, not crops or cows, that led Demetrius Bledsoe to a career in agriculture.
“I went to Iowa State (University) to wrestle,” said Bledsoe, who is the keynote speaker for the 39th annual Small Farms Week, sponsored by Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T.
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SAS Institute, NC AgrAbility Partner to Support Farmers with Disabilities
NC AgrAbility, a program aimed at helping farmers, ranchers and other agricultural workers with disabilities, provided a way back to productivity for David Dyson, helping him to get a modified ATV after he became a quadriplegic. The 41-year-old Lee County farmer struck a sandbar while diving into the Black River during a family get-together in 2017.
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