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NC A&T uses working farm to cultivate climate resilience in agriculture

Researchers at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University are working on studies to help farmers adapt to changing weather. It’s one of several initiatives taking place at the university’s working farm.

The nearly 500-acre site serves as a research and demonstration farm. It’s where new crops and farming practices are tested before introducing them to the state’s farming community. One of the goals is to find new varieties of fruit trees and plants that can better withstand warmer winters. Lydian Bernhardt with NC A&T's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences says researchers are also looking at climate impacts on livestock.

“Sows when they get too hot they can’t produce milk," says Bernhardt. "There is a plant called moringa. The effects of that on heat-stressed mother pigs is a study that we just got funded that's currently underway."

N.C. A&T focuses on helping small, limited-resource and minority farmers find ways to thrive and meet challenges.

These types of climate studies are important because agriculture is the state’s top industry. Bernhardt says a lot of student workers help keep operations going at the site and it provides learning opportunities. The production farm also serves the community.

“If you are experimenting on what form of tillage — high, medium or low — grows the best watermelon, at the end of the day you are going to have watermelon, so you know you give it all over to someone who can really use it.”

Bernhardt says this year, the university farm gave away nearly 30,000 tons of produce to the Second Harvest Food Bank, Backpack Beginnings, and other local organizations that address food insecurity.

You can follow WFDD's  Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

 

 

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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