University Farm hosts NCDA’s annual update on new and emerging crops

A North Carolina Department of Agriculture program focused on new and unique crops in the state held its latest updates this month, featuring projects by the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.

NCDA&CS’ New and Emerging Crops Program held its annual Research/Industry Update on April 23, hosted at N.C. A&T’s University Farm Pavilion and sponsored by the N.C. Farm Bureau.

“This summer, North Carolina surpassed $100 billion in market value”, said program coordinator Hunter Barrier. “It’s our number one commodity, and the reason behind that is because of the hard work of farmers, industry, and research. In order to keep growing this industry, we’ve got to continue to look for new opportunities. That’s where the New and Emerging Crops Program comes in.”

Since 2018, the program has offered grants to identify new potential crops, value-added products and agricultural enterprises, and provide the agricultural research, marketing support and education necessary to make these crops commercially viable and profitable.

According to Sam Brake, NCDA&CS agricultural program specialist, the decision to hold the Research and Industry Update at the University Farm Pavilion initially began last winter.

“Hunter and I work together in the program and share many ideas,” said Brake. “As we were planning this, we decided the topics for discussion fit the mission of N.C. A&T and we asked them if we could do the program on their premises. The professors, the dean, the communications team and the college staff were receptive to the idea and highly accommodating.”

“Our 492-acre University Farm supports our research, our teaching, and our outreach endeavors such as this one today” said Shirley Hymon-Parker, Ph.D., CAES interim dean. “This farm supports about 26 research projects happening in the college, 15 student workers, and nine animal and horticulture units. We are constantly growing by leaps and bounds.”

Research and industry topics varied between specialists from CAES, Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T, N.C. State Extension and Appalachian State University. Unique growing and commercial opportunities presented included seedless muscadine grapes and goumi berries – an international fruit local to the Russian Far East, China and Japan – while NCSU Ph.D. student Michael Palmer discussed the supplemental chill hours of strawberries in controlled environments.

Among CAES’ presenters, Kathleen Liang, Ph.D., W.K. Kellogg Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Agriculture, and Hurdle Mills farmer Thomas Savage Jr., talked about the growth, marketability and food preparation of ethnic crops such as bitter melon, pumpkin leaves and Santee mini broccoli to boost small-acreage farm sales across the state.

“In my research, I started looking at the type of customers we have by demographic, the type of climate we grow in North Carolina from the coast to the mountains, and the resources available despite costs and inflation,” said Liang. “The high range of diverse customers in North Carolina’s foreign-born population show that a lot of people look for the kind of food they are familiar with as well as those willing to try it.”

Research professor Louis Jackai, Ph.D., spoke about amaranth – an indigenous vegetable commonly grown in Africa, Asia, and Central America – and the use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) systems to form ecologically safe alternatives to insecticide that protect the crop and the farmer.

“Amaranth is not new to me,” said Jackai. “The goal is to have a crop that is sustainable, that you can keep harvesting over time, and enables the grower to have something for food, to sell, and market. It is a viable enterprise.”