North Carolina

Are you in the market for data covering locally and regionally produced agricultural products? You are not alone. Consumer demand for local and regional food products continues to soar, with retail sales at an estimated $6.1 billion in 2012. Thanks to support from the 2014 Farm Bill, USDA Market...

It’s a fact most of us learned in grammar school. More than seventy percent of the earth’s surface is water. On this 45th Earth Day, I can’t help but be proud to recognize the work that USDA Rural Development is doing to improve water quality and availability in Rural America. Today, USDA is...

Cover crops are the real heroes in the world of agriculture. Their job starts after a field is harvested and ends just before the next season’s crop is planted. Expectations for cover crops are high because if they don’t produce, the next crop may suffer. After crops are harvested each year...

In celebration of Women’s History Month, we are taking a moment to talk with prominent women in agriculture about their lives, their ideas about leadership, and how their day gets off to a good start. Dr. Jewel Hairston is currently the Dean of the College of Agriculture at Virginia State University...

For a community of brook trout in the southern Appalachian mountains, there are signs that the good times are coming back. To some, these native inhabitants might even appear to be waving a welcome home sign. Their numbers almost vanquished, they are as much a cultural emblem of these rugged and...

February is traditionally a month of celebration for our nation’s 1890 land-grant universities (LGUs) in commemoration of Black History Month. These institutions are historically-black universities that were established in 1890 under the Second Morrill Act. Now, as the month draws to an end, the...

Hiding beneath a pile of rocks in a clear mountain stream flowing from the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina lurks North America’s largest salamander, the Eastern hellbender. It is also locked in battle between its perilous decline and valiant struggle for survival. Sediment from runoff...

Just off Florida’s 8,000 miles of coastline and tidal areas, in shallow sunlit waters, over two million acres of seagrass meadows waft in the ocean currents. Besides providing food and habitat for manatees, sea turtles, shellfish, and other animals, seagrasses protect coasts from erosion and store...

The first step in running a successful farm or ranch business is identifying a product to create and connecting that product to potential customers. For some new and beginning farmers, it can be a challenge to connect to the right market opportunities and to build a business that fits. At USDA, we...

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA’s rich science and research portfolio. Pickles are a popular food, but are even trendier today as more and more craft brands show up in stores and farmers’ markets...