AGRICULTURE

In any conversation about strengthening urban and rural connections, local food systems are usually suggested as the prime example. Images of farmers’ markets come to mind, where urban consumers have the opportunity not only to buy fresh fruits and vegetables but to get to know the growers and producers. The food system in reality is […]

This story is one of seven vignettes in the series Rural by Choice: Navigating Identity in the Uwharries. The land at this particular crossroads in southern Randolph County has a storied history. It once belonged to Miles and Healy Lassiter, and some of it still belongs to their descendants, including Jerry Laughlin. Miles was born […]

“A bus ticket and a bologna sandwich.” That’s a colloquial interpretation of the solution many economists suggest for addressing economic challenges in rural areas – move to a city where there’s more opportunity. While this school of thought acknowledges barriers that can make it difficult to relocate – education levels, job skills, housing costs – […]

An outdoor, living exhibit on its way to the UNC Charlotte campus will tell the story of North Carolina through plants and crops crucial to the state’s development. A team representing the University’s Center for the Study of the New South, Botanical Gardens and Urban Institute received a grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council […]

The Sandhills AGInnovation Center works to nurture rural farmers in Richmond and Montgomery counties, while connecting them to urban markets.

The Sandhills AGInnovation Center works to nurture rural farmers in Richmond and Montgomery counties, while connecting them to urban markets.

[Read the full report here] It was a cold January day in 2018 when eight researchers from UNC Charlotte’s Urban Institute stepped out into the brisk air in Hamlet, a small town in Richmond County, N.C. A dusting of snow from a surprise storm the previous day still covered the railroad tracks adjacent to the […]

“The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways.” President John F. Kennedy To say that agriculture is important in North Carolina would be an obvious understatement. Agriculture and agribusiness, including food, forestry, and fiber, is the number one industry […]

They seem to pop up each summer like wild onions in the lettuce – small farmers markets around Charlotte selling produce that might or might not be locally grown. Some last barely a season, while others put down roots and continue for years. They’re part of a farm-to-city regional economic system that includes the large […]

Seventh-generation farmer Bent Barbee of Concord’s Barbee Farms credits Cabarrus County’s Voluntary Agricultural District program as an important reason his 70-acre farm is still in operation after almost being lost to a road widening project in 2009. WHAT’S NEXT? Leslie Vanden Herik of the Mecklenburg Soil & Water Conservation District said a next step is […]