
{"id":1878,"date":"2008-02-14T07:59:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-14T15:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2008\/02\/14\/drought-woes-farm-bill-focus-of-annual-ag-summit\/"},"modified":"2008-02-14T08:11:30","modified_gmt":"2008-02-14T16:11:30","slug":"drought-woes-farm-bill-focus-of-annual-ag-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2008\/02\/14\/drought-woes-farm-bill-focus-of-annual-ag-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"Drought woes, Farm Bill focus of annual Ag Summit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>By Susan Dickson<\/strong><br \/>\nStaff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>More than 100 farmers, county officials and community members gathered on Tuesday to discuss the drought and the changing face of agriculture at the 10th annual Orange County Agricultural Summit. <\/p>\n<p>Rep. David Price expressed his concerns regarding the drought to the crowd at the Orange Enterprises Building in Hillsborough, which is being considered as a possible site for a shared-use value-added food-processing center. <\/p>\n<p><!--more-->\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am very concerned, as I know you are, about the news that the prospects for a turnaround [in the weather] are receding,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Price said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I of course firmly hope that that isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the case.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\nPrice said Congress is considering increasing emergency disaster assistance for crop and livestock producers, which could provide relief during the drought. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It really is going to be necessary for us to prepare for an adverse situation,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know that the people most affected are our farmers.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have a lot of work to do in this region, short-term and long-term, in preparing for our water\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Price continued. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is not a water-rich state. This is a state where we have to shepherd our resources very carefully.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Tom Konsler, environmental health director for Orange County, said that while well replacements have increased slightly recently, the increase is small compared to the spike in well replacements in 2002. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Now we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re seeing a pretty big spike in irrigation wells being drilled,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Konsler said. <\/p>\n<p>Board of County Commissioners Chair Barry Jacobs said the county is in the process of hiring a water resources coordinator who will focus on water conservation and public health efforts. Jacobs added that the coordinator will provide the county with scientific information about the county and its water \u00e2\u20ac\u0153before we do things that will lead us in an irreparable direction.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>The summit also featured presentations from Weaver Street Market and Whole Foods representatives, who provided information regarding obtaining products from local farmers and the increasing demand for local foods. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There is a lot more demand for product than there is local product,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Paul Griswold, a buyer for Weaver Street Market. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The news is good and the outlook is really bright. I just see an ever-expanding market on the East Coast.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Local growers provided information about their operations, also emphasizing the growing demand for local foods. <\/p>\n<p>To meet the increasing demand for locally grown products, the county is working with Alamance, Chatham and Durham counties to establish a shared-use value-added food-processing center, where farmers and others could make value-added products such as jams, pickles or tamales. <\/p>\n<p>Consultant Smithson Mills provided an update regarding plans for the facility. According to Jacobs, the county has applied for grants to fund the facility, which could be housed at the county-owned Orange Enterprises Building. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Susan Dickson Staff Writer More than 100 farmers, county officials and community members gathered on Tuesday to discuss the drought and the changing face of agriculture at the 10th annual Orange County Agricultural Summit. Rep. David Price expressed his concerns regarding the drought to the crowd at the Orange Enterprises Building in Hillsborough, which&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-land-and-table","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1878\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}