Cumberland County, NC
New Hanover County, NC
Farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations produce organic food. Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones and organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides, petroleum-based fertilizers or sewage sludge-based fertilizers, bio-engineering, or ionizing radiation. Before a product can be labeled USDA organic, a government-approved certifier must inspect the farm to make sure the farmer is following all the standards, and also inspect the companies that handle or process the food before it gets to local supermarkets or restaurants.
Many efforts in NC are now aimed toward helping growers improve their business enterprises and produce safe, fresh, quality produce for North Carolina markets and beyond. "Value-added" farming involves more that just producing organic foods, it includes working wit a knowledge of safety plans and risk management issues related to growing and selling fresh produce and way to improve marketing and production on a local level.
Aquaculture is the fastest growing form of agriculture in the United States. Dr. Wade O. Watanabe, a research professor with the Center for Marine Sciences at UNCW and coordinator for the center's aquaculture program for research, education and technology transfer, is conducting collaborative research on intensive, recirculating aquaculture systems design and operation, nutrient recycling through integrated fin fish-shellfish polyculture, economics and marketing of aquaculture production and transfer of technology to commercial users through pilot-scale demonstration.
The driving force behind the interest in mariculture is the growing worldwide demand for seafood. The harvest of fish from our oceans is static or declining, so in the future, people will be forced to consume less seafood, or the demand will have to be met by aquaculture. Americans consume about 16 to 17 pounds of seafood per capita per year, and the U.S. already imports 70 percent of the seafood consumed by Americans, while 40 percent of that comes from aquaculture. Currently, the U.S. has an $8 billion per year seafood trade deficit. Many people feel that the U.S. needs to become more self-reliant in producing food and domestic aquaculture is an opportunity to reduce that deficit while ensuring that food is safe to eat.
Researchers are growing two types of fish at the UNCW aquaculture facility in Wrightsville Beach, and one is black sea bass. They're in high demand across the country but low in supply here where they're fished. The other is southern flounder, an economically important fish that has been declining in numbers for two decades. The researchers at UNCW have developed a hatchery program for southern flounder in which they spawn flounder eggs naturally, without using hormone inductions. This is the first program successfully accomplish this on a large-scale basis. Previously, hormones were injected into the fish daily or given to the fish in pellet form to force them to spawn. At this facility the fish are raised from birth. They're farmed and fed so that they taste virtually the same as they would if they were fished from the ocean.
Alganomics, LLC, founded by Dr. Kim Jones in Oak Island, NC, is becoming a leader in culturing algae for biomass. A pilot plant for algae to oil is underway for the Oak Island Wastewater Treatment Facility, Oak Island, North Carolina. Alganomics believes that algae are a valuable, untapped agricultural resource for many organic products, particularly feedstocks or fuelstocks for biofuels.
In September 2008, Alganomics and the Town of Oak Island formed a collaborative partnership for an algae culturing system demonstration site to be located at the Oak Island Wastewater Treatment Facility. The project is beginning with a feasibility and environmental remediation impact study with a small photobioreactor, utilizing nutrients from the wastewater of the facility.
Unlike other biofuels, algae does not compete with food sources, such as corn or soybeans, and will prove to be efficient and low in cost.
Watch the NC Now Feature
Interview with Randall Johnson