Farms, Food and You

Waste management is part of doing business for North Carolina’s 46,000 crop and livestock farms. And at North Carolina State University, researchers and extension specialists are working to cut waste management costs, create income from value-added products, and protect the environment. Two ways that the university is working to deliver waste management solutions: by helping farmers use plant-based agricultural leftovers to feed beef cattle and by finding ways efficient to turn hog manure into fertilizer and renewable energy.

Our Guests

For 30 years, Matt Poore has served as a professor and beef Extension specialist at NC State University, where he focuses on nutrition for beef cattle, sheep and meat goats. He grew up spending his summers in North Carolina and his winters in the western part of the country. He often wondered why cows in North Carolina seemed to be merely part of the landscape, while in the West they were big business. The contrast captured his interest, and so he decided to study animal science and nutrition. At Arizona State University, he earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in the field.

Deidre Harmon has worked at NC State for three years as an assistant professor and extension livestock specialist stationed at the Mountain Research Station in Waynesville. She grew up on a cow-calf farm, where she enjoyed feeding the cows and seeing how nutrition influenced the kinds of calves the cows produced. She holds bachelor’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, a master’s from Virginia Tech and a doctorate from the University of Georgia.

Jay Cheng is a professor of biological and agricultural engineering at NC State University, with a primary focus on research and teaching related to environmental engineering and bioenergy processes. He has engaged in research collaborations around the globe and holds three engineering degrees: a bachelor’s degree from Jiangxi Institute of Technology in China, a master’s from Saints Cyril and Methodius University in North Macedonia and a Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati.

Farmworkers are essential to our lives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, their work hasn’t stopped. In the latest episode of the Farms, Food and You podcast, hear about the risks these workers face as they produce the food that’ll end up on our plates in coming weeks and months and what NC State Extension, its partners and other state agencies are doing to help lower those risks. (Read the episode transcript.)
Farms, Food and You is produced twice a month by North Carolina State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Our Guests
> A native of Mexico, Pedro Zuñiga Martinez has come to North Carolina as a farmworker for 33 years. For the past five years, he’s worked at Ann Angus Farm in Rocky Mount, which produces sweet potatoes, corn, soybeans and cattle.

> Beth Rodman is bureau chief for agricultural safety and health with the N.C. Department of Labor, which is responsible for inspecting migrant farmworker housing and enforcing the Migrant Housing Act of North Carolina and occupational safety and health standards applicable to agricultural operations, including field sanitation.

> Cintia Aguilar is a native of Costa Rica with a psychology background. She has worked with and for farmworkers throughout her career. She serves as Latino programs manager with NC State Extension, NC State University’s largest outreach program.

> Robin Tutor-Marcom is director of the North Carolina Agromedicine institute and an East Carolina University faculty member. She earned her doctorate in agricultural and extension education from NC State University.

> Susan Jakes is principal investigator with NC State Extension’s grant-funded Farmworker Health and Safety Education Program. She also serves as the organization’s associate state program leader for community and rural development.

> Roberto Rosales is an NC State Extension farmworker health and safety educator serving Wilson, Nash and Edgecombe counties. He was introduced to farm work as a child, when his parents traveled the East Coast as migrant farmworkers.

> Blake Brown is Hugh C. Kiger Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at North Carolina State University. An expert in agricultural policy analysis, Brown has served as a senior economist for the Council of Economic Advisers in the Executive Office of the U.S. President.

> Shane Varnell owns V&V Farms in Rocky Mount, which produces tobacco, cotton, soybeans, wheat, corn, sweet potatoes and beef cattle. He holds a degree in agricultural business management from NC State’s Agricultural Institute, and his son is now a junior at the university.

> As a farm labor contractor, Neyre Barajas recruits, trains, manages and transports farmworkers to harvest citrus in Florida and then sweet potatoes in North Carolina. Originally from Mexico, Barajas has worked in agriculture since she was 9.

Resources for More Information

• COVID-19 Resources for Farmers and Farmworkers (NC State Extension)
• Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (N.C. Department of Labor)
• Agriculture Workers and Employers: Interim Guidance (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Labor)
• North Carolina Farmw

Meat processing is a booming industry in North Carolina. With that, there are jobs abound for graduates to take on, but do they have the relevant training? NC State's Currey Nobles is working with the Agricultural Institute instituting courses to help train the next wave of workers entering the industry.
go.ncsu.edu/food-animal

Thank you for listening to Farms, Food and You, produced by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University. Over the past three years, we’ve enjoyed bringing you information and news about food and farming issues in North Carolina. This is our last episode, but you can hear previous episodes at go.ncsu.edu/farms. And we hope you’ll keep up with the latest from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences online at cals.ncsu.edu/news.

Planting a new crop carries a lot of risk for farmers. Extension Specialist David Suchoff joins us on this weeks episode highlighting efforts to limit that risk as sesame tries to find footing in the North Carolina agriculture landscape.

On this week's episode we sit down with the new dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at NC State Univeristy, Garey Fox. He shares with us his hopes and goals for the years ahead, and the direction he strives to lead the on.