Category: Natural Resources and Environmental Design

N.C. A&T State University’s farm has expanded by nearly 90 acres to its largest size in its 124-year history thanks to several recent purchases of adjacent land, according to Jerome Harper, director of real property for the university.

Consider the humble farm pond. It’s used to water crops and livestock. It attracts birds and other wildlife and can be stocked with fish. In a pinch, farm pond water can be used to put out fires.

In 2016, Guochen Yang, Ph.D. decided to spice up North Carolina farming by testing ginger as a new niche crop for small-scale growers. Yang knew from his childhood in rural China that ginger was both tasty and medicinally beneficial, and as a horticulture professor in the United States, he has watched its popularity grow as both a spice for cooking and a desirable natural remedy for colds, aches and pains.

AS THE WORLD suffers bouts of extreme weather conditions, including record-breaking temperatures, torrential rains and prolonged droughts, many people may be thinking about how to make changes. But few may consider that the ground beneath them might hold the answers.