CEFS celebrates a decade of programming
Dr. Fred Kirschenmann (bottom right) defined sustainable agriculture practices - such the new hoop hog houses (top) and organic crop fields (bottom left) at CEFS - as systems that maintain production indefinitely into the future.
Photos by Becky Kirkland
The Center for Environmental Farming Systems in Goldsboro officially kicked off its "Seasons of Sustainable Agriculture" in May with the dedication of a new alternative swine unit. Dr. Fred Kirschenmann, Distinguished Fellow of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture in Iowa, was keynote speaker for the event, which opened a season-long celebration of 10 years of programming at CEFS.
In the early 1990s, a group of ambitious agricultural researchers from N.C. State and N.C. A&T State universities began to discuss how - and where - they could conduct long-term research on sustainable agricultural practices.
Out of their efforts, the Center for Environmental Farming Systems was created in 1994 at Cherry Research Farm in Goldsboro - a partnership of both institutions, the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and several nonprofit organizations. Programming officially got under way at the center in 1996.
Beginning with the kickoff, the "Seasons of Sustainable Agriculture" celebration will run through December, featuring a variety of educational workshops and a harvest festival for the public Sept. 16. A complete list of events is available on the Web at www.cefs.ncsu.edu.
At the new alternative swine unit, hogs are raised in canvas-covered hoop houses with concrete floors covered in a deep bed of hay. This is North Carolina's first research project involving hoop houses, which are used in Iowa.
The CEFS hogs are from a University of Kentucky herd that has been antibiotic free for 30 years. The first litter of pigs was scheduled to farrow in June.
The site for the new hog facility once housed a traditional hog enclosure, with a lagoon. The new hoop houses are more economical to construct and do not require a lagoon, the technology used by most of the state's hog farms. When the hogs leave the houses, the remaining straw and waste are removed and composted for later use in crop production.
The swine unit adds another livestock component to the CEFS research efforts. Other projects include a pasture-based dairy unit, a beef cattle unit, a systems research unit, an organic research unit and a small farm unit.
Following the dedication ceremony and lunch, about 50 producers participated in a workshop on sustainable hog production. Another group toured the other CEFS research units.
-Natalie Hampton
In the early 1990s, a group of ambitious agricultural researchers from N.C. State and N.C. A&T State universities began to discuss how - and where - they could conduct long-term research on sustainable agricultural practices.
Out of their efforts, the Center for Environmental Farming Systems was created in 1994 at Cherry Research Farm in Goldsboro - a partnership of both institutions, the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and several nonprofit organizations. Programming officially got under way at the center in 1996.
Beginning with the kickoff, the "Seasons of Sustainable Agriculture" celebration will run through December, featuring a variety of educational workshops and a harvest festival for the public Sept. 16. A complete list of events is available on the Web at www.cefs.ncsu.edu.
At the new alternative swine unit, hogs are raised in canvas-covered hoop houses with concrete floors covered in a deep bed of hay. This is North Carolina's first research project involving hoop houses, which are used in Iowa.
The CEFS hogs are from a University of Kentucky herd that has been antibiotic free for 30 years. The first litter of pigs was scheduled to farrow in June.
The site for the new hog facility once housed a traditional hog enclosure, with a lagoon. The new hoop houses are more economical to construct and do not require a lagoon, the technology used by most of the state's hog farms. When the hogs leave the houses, the remaining straw and waste are removed and composted for later use in crop production.
The swine unit adds another livestock component to the CEFS research efforts. Other projects include a pasture-based dairy unit, a beef cattle unit, a systems research unit, an organic research unit and a small farm unit.
Following the dedication ceremony and lunch, about 50 producers participated in a workshop on sustainable hog production. Another group toured the other CEFS research units.
-Natalie Hampton