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September 2015

Sep 30, 2015

Wayne County Farmworkers Appreciation Festival brings community together

Participants had opportunities to be given health and dental screenings, as well as to visit information booths to learn about the community services available to them. 

Sep 29, 2015

Modeling tool IDs genes that control plants’ stress response

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from North Carolina State University and University of California, Davis has developed a modeling algorithm that is able to identify plant genes associated with specific biological functions. The modeling tool will help plant biologists target individual genes that control how plants respond to environmental stressors. 

Sep 29, 2015

NC State gets grant to study African crop disease

NC State University has received a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study cassava mosaic disease, which limits production of a key African food crop. Dr. Linda Hanley-Bowdoin, a CALS professor of plant and microbial biology, will lead the five-year, $5 million project. 

Sep 28, 2015

Update on the national debt

The major focus in the economy in recent years has been on growth -- particularly on creating jobs and reducing unemployment. But what's happened to the national debt? Is it still an issue? And where is it headed? NC State University economist Mike Walden answers. 

Sep 25, 2015

You Decide: Is Another Recession Around the Corner?

The economy has been improving for the last six years, but that doesn’t mean it will continue to do so. Mike Walden analyzes the factors and events that can lead to recession – and whether any are currently in play. 

Sep 25, 2015

Celebrate NC Ag Day

What better way to celebrate North Carolina agriculture than with a plate of barbecue, a scoop of NC State’s famous Howling Cow ice cream and a stroll through exhibits and activities that showcase North Carolina’s nearly $80 billion agriculture and agribusiness industry? 

Sep 21, 2015

The buying of Belk

The longtime family-owned department store Belk has been sold to a New York investment firm. This ends the 125-year family operation of a retail giant that originated in North Carolina. NC State University economist Mike Walden comments on reasons for the sale. 

Brittany Whitmire and Andy von Canon with their dog on their farm.

Sep 20, 2015

Business and Busy-ness

Andy VonCanon and Brittany Whitmire call their family farm near Brevard “Busy Bee” – and what a fitting name it is. The two keep bees and raise cattle, turkeys and forage crops, all the while holding busy off-farm careers in agriculture. He’s a College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumnus who teaches high school agriculture, and she’s the new dairy economist with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service at NC State. 

Dr. H. Robert Horton signs the agreement creating the new endowment.

Sep 15, 2015

Horton endowment created to fund biochemistry scholarships

The H. Robert and Roberta A. Horton Biochemistry Scholarship Endowment was created in an agreement between the Hortons and the N.C. Agricultural Foundation Inc., in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. 

Sep 14, 2015

WNR Professors honored

Seven CALS faculty members joined the ranks of colleagues who have earned the named professorship, established 65 years ago by William Neal Reynolds, the longtime president and board chair of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.