Farm Business Planning Program

New Carolina Farm Credit program for young, beginning, small, and minority farmers within NC. Applications for the program are being accepted until September 1.

Farm Credit has received a grant to cover the tuition and make a new e-learning financial and business management course available to North Carolina farm families.

The on-line training will be offered statewide through North Carolina’s three Farm Credit associations. The Farm Credit University curriculum includes financial planning, budgeting and other money matters essential to a farm’s success.

The program is funded by a $94,500 grant from the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission. The N.C. General Assembly established the commission in 2000 to help tobacco farmers, farm workers and related businesses impacted by the transition out of tobacco farming.
The commission’s funding comes from money paid by cigarette manufacturers as a result of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement.

Farm Credit’s e-learning program targets young, beginning, small, and minority farmers throughout the state. Participants will be assigned a Farm Credit loan officer to serve as a mentor throughout the course. Highlights of the program include modules that cover business and personal financial planning, understanding income statements, cash flow, the smart use of credit on the farm. Each participant will have completed a business plan for their operation at the conclusion of the class. Priority will be given to former tobacco farmers and others impacted by the Tobacco buyout. The grant provides for training 60 producers in a set of 2 classes over the next 2 years.

AgCarolina Financial, Cape Fear, and Carolina Farm Credit will be accepting applications for the program which will begin in October of 2009. Applications, a course outline, and program information is available at the following websites: www.CarolinaFarmCredit.com, www.AgCarolinaFinancal.com, www.CapeFearFarmCredit.com. Applications will be accepted through September 1, 2009. Individuals selected for the program will be notified after September 15. The course will conclude with a group meeting in Raleigh in March of 2010.

“This is a unique opportunity for this group of farmers to learn and benefit in ways that will certainly improve their family farm operations,” said William Upchurch, Executive Director of the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission.

Caterpillar Watch

A number of caterpillar species will feed on ornamental plants in the landscape. These include the well known pest such as bagworms, fall webworms, and eastern tent caterpillars. However, some pests more commonly associated with agricultural crops will also feed on ornamental plants. These include corn earworms, cutworms, various loopers, pansyworms, hornworms, and other. These are generalist caterpillars that readily feed on many plant species. Look for them on herbaceous perennials and annual bedding plants in particular. Caterpillar damage to bedding plants can be distinguished from slug or beetle damage because caterpillars generally consume large areas of leafs including all but the largest veins. Slugs will leave a messing trail of slime and feeding damage will appear irregular. Caterpillars in hanging baskets and small plantings can often be removed by hand. Commercial operators have a number of chemical options to choose from which are listed in a caterpillar insect note at http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/O&T/shrubs/note07/note07.html.

From: Steve Frank, Extension Entomologist