Pork Is Finding Its Niche (washingtonpost.com)
Consumer demand for pork is up, and the pork tastes better. Hog farmers are finally making money, and there’s a surge in demand for “free-range” hogs. I guess my grandparents were ahead of their time, because their hogs and chickens were raised “free-range” style, which has also been called old-time farming.
No more cows left to milk in Roanoke County (roanoke.com)
The last dairy farm in Roanoke County, VA milked its cows for the last time Tuesday morning, 11/16. The cows have been sold, and the farm is switching to beef cattle, which require less work and should be more profitable. The long hours, low milk prices, and increasing expenses forced the farm to quit the dairy business after milking cows for 75 years. In 1947, they were paid $5.90 per hundred pounds for their milk, and they paid $1,800 for a tractor. In October, 2004, they were paid between $14 and $16 per hundred pounds for their milk, and a comparable tractor cost about $16,000.
There’s also an excellent flash slideshow with sound of the cows’ last day on the farm.
Rural Americans losing familiar radio voices (vafb.com)
The Farm Report is getting harder to find on the radio. It’s a victim of radio consolidations and creeping suburbia. Until I moved to the Roanoke area, I listened to a farm report nearly every day for close to 30 years. Even when I lived in Richmond, I was able to catch the farm report on WSVA in the mornings before class.
Agriculture is still a big part of the Roanoke area, but there’s no farm report on the radio here. I think that’s another example of how radio in Roanoke fails to identify and serve its customers. Why doesn’t Roanoke have a local radio station like WSVA that actually has local content and makes a genuine effort to serve the needs of the community (its customers)? I guess I need to try installing a large, directional AM antenna to pick up WSVA.
I love tomatoes, but I’ll eat most of my sandwiches and salads without tomatoes until prices go down. Prices are up because of low supplies caused by hurricanes in Florida, heavy rains in California, and heavy rains and pests in Mexico. The supply problem should get better when new crops are harvested in Florida in December.
Buzz in Maryland: Beekeepers Needed (wtopnews.com)
Maryland only has four large-scale beekeepers, and the youngest is 56. Honeybees are needed to pollinate crops like cucumbers, pumpkins, and strawberries.
Virginia’s milk production fall-off in 2003 was tops among the 20 top milk producing states in the nation. Virginia is a net importer of milk. It doesn’t produce enough for its own consumption. Yet Virginia dairy herds are diminishing in record numbers.
Twelve years ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rappahannock County, VA had nearly 1,000 acres in apple production. Now that number is closer to 300 acres.
[Read](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8578-2004Oct5.html “Read the Article”) (Washington Post)
NPR : Female Farmers: A Growing Trend in America
The number of farms managed by women climbed 13 percent between 1997 and 2002, and women now run one in every ten American farms.
‘Cage-free’ eggs: not all they’re cracked up to be?
The label “cage free” might not mean the chicken spent much time outside the hen house. I need to remember to only buy my eggs from the lady at the Salem Farmer’s Market who was selling organic, free range eggs.