Brandon Herring
Brandon joined the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in September of 2019 after more than 15 years as a reporter, anchor, photographer and producer in local TV news. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Growing up, Brandon spent many summers in tobacco fields helping on the family farm just east of Lumberton. He started out driving the tractor in front of the harvester at about age 7, and by the summers in college was cropping and racking tobacco. His father, cousin, mother and sister still keep the farm going. While they no longer grow tobacco, several other field crops remain, along with a peach orchard and roadside produce market.
Department loses employee with deep connection to research station
In mid-December, the N.C. Department of Agriculture lost an employee who not only meant a lot to the research station where he worked but to the community around the station. Dale Sheets had worked at the Upper Mountain Research Station
From the Lumbee kitchen: A soup for leftovers that won’t be a ‘gaumy mess’
Jamie Locklear grew up in the Saddletree community outside Lumberton in Robeson County. He’s a cultural preservationist of Lumbee foodways.* After the work and stress of putting together a full Christmas meal, his idea for what to do with Christmas
N.C. tree shines as center of White House Christmas decor
A Christmas tree from North Carolina is now on display as the official White House Christmas tree and the centerpiece of the home’s Christmas decorations. The Fraser fir from Peak Farms in Ashe County is in the Blue Room. First
Seafood processors share improvements thanks to NCDA&CS grant assistance
Two North Carolina seafood processors that have received grant money through a NCDA&CS grant program hosted a tour recently to show off their facilities. While the point of the tour wasn’t to highlight the improvements made with the grant money,
New fairgrounds building made of N.C. native wood now bears name of ‘Renaissance man’ who managed construction
The newest building at the N.C. State Fair now has its official name. During the 2021 fair, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler announced the name at a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and with that announcement he surprised the man who supervised the building’s
It’s official: New Steve Troxler Agricultural Sciences Center is open after massive move-in
The move-in at the new Steve Troxler Agricultural Sciences Center is now complete. So, the settling in is well underway. All or part of four NCDA&CS divisions now call the 225,000-square-foot building home. It contains offices and labs for the
New tractor lending program brings benefits to research stations
Research Stations Division Director Teresa Lambert expects a new tractor lending program to be a nice boost for two of the state’s agricultural research locations. It already has her dreaming about expanding the program too as a way to help
Research station teams ups to help flooded farmers in WNC
Less that 24 hours after remnants of Tropical Storm Fred flooded areas of western North Carolina, staff at the Mountain Research Station in Waynesville began mobilizing to help farmers who needed a hand to recover. The flooding rains came on
Research station welcomes visitors for popcorn tour
On a hot, humid, August morning recently, Amy Manzulich of Roxboro stood on the edge of a corn plot on the Oxford Research Station, watching her four children pull ears of corn from the stalks. Braving the heat was worth
One award brings two honors in two ways for long-term Food Distribution leaders
This past spring, when Gary Gay retired as the director of the Food Distribution Division after 36 years with NCDA&CS, the division staff wanted to celebrate his retirement with a special gift. That gift also turned into a way to