Ryan Wiebe was just looking
for some direction. Three
years of college didn’t moti-vate
him, he felt adrift, and so
the 24-year-old Florida native
returned to the North Carolina
Mountains where his family vaca-tioned
when he was a boy.
It was there that he fell in
love … with farming.
“I was here, up in the woods
and I didn’t know what I was
doing and then the whole farming
thing came along,” said Wiebe,
(pronounced wē-bē). “I just wanted
to do something with what was
right here in front of me.
“That’s when I realized that
it was really cool to have a hand-ful
of seeds and then, a couple of
months later, you’ve got boxes
and boxes of stuff that you’ve cre-ated
from nothing.”
And thus: “Wiebe Farmin’.”
Really. Wiebe has used the
personal pronoun in his last name
to give cachet to his agribusiness,
located in the South Toe Valley
of North Carolina. Even as the
Wiebe Farmin’ name resonates
with customers, the enterprise is
also known for its USDA organic
certified production, quality pack-aging
and clean operation.
Wiebe is the 2014 North
Carolina Small Farmer of the
Year, honored in March by The
Cooperative
Extension
Program at
N.C. A&T State
University. For
his willingness
to help other
farmers, his
partnership with
Cooperative
Extension, his
successful vege-table-
production
largely grown
on black plastic with drip irriga-tion,
Wiebe was awarded a plaque,
monogrammed jacket and $1,500
stipend.
Since starting his farm in
2004 Wiebe has expanded from
a quarter-acre garden to 6 acres,
primarily of winter squash and
cabbage. He has also cultivated
a host of other vegetables and
herbs: from basil and tomatoes,
to pumpkins and potatoes. The
farm ships 3 to 5 tons of produce
weekly during peak growing sea-sons
and about 20 tons, annually.
Wiebe Farmin’ has expanded from
sales to individual customers at
tailgate markets to cultivating a
wholesale market of grocers, res-taurants
and other food suppliers.
The popularity of organic produce
allows Wiebe to establish markets
months in advance from a reliable
customer base.
And when Wiebe first
started, it was Yancey County
Cooperative Extension that helped
him figure out how to farm.
“I went to the Extension
office and Claude Deyton (now
retired) was there and I told him
I was interested in farming and
he said: ‘Great. A&T is doing a
plasticulture program,’” Wiebe
recalls. “From the beginning, he
gave me the motivation to try and
the belief to succeed.”
Wiebe, now 34, has contin-ued
to work closely with Yancey
County Cooperative Extension,
including Agricultural Technician
Adam McCurry, who nominated
him as Small Farmer of the Year
and whom Wiebe describes as “a
tremendous help.”
Married with two young
sons, Wiebe’s excitement has only
intensified over the years. His
wife, Anna, helps out as she can.
And one of his biggest supporters
and hardest workers is his mother,
who visits from Florida. Of all
the people and organizations that
support him, it is those who came
before him to whom Wiebe pays
the most homage.
“The first settlers on this land
had a dream and they worked real
hard to make it what it is and we
just kind of come in and pick up
where they left off,” Wiebe said.
“They came here and cleared the
land and farmed the land first and
prepared it, took out the trees, and
the stumps and the rocks.”
Wiebe wants to be worthy of
that legacy and takes pride in what
he grows, how it is presented and
how it is ultimately used. Double-take
handsome with a background
that includes professional model-ing
and travels to New York and
Italy to work, when Wiebe says
he wants to be “the new face of
farming,” he isn’t referring to
his good looks. He wants to be
a role model for how farming
helps communities, and promotes
industry.
“This is the highest honor I
can think of,” Wiebe says of being
named farmer of the year. “Being
around and starting this whole
thing with Extension and with
A&T, that gave me my start. Then
to be nominated and chosen for
this 10 years later is a really good
feeling. It’s amazing.”
Preparing. Finding. Implementing solutions.
SAES to create Small Farms
Collaborative
“The growing numbers of African
American farms in North Carolina
will find the SAES dedicating more
resources to small-scale agricultural
enterprises over the next 10 years,”
said SAES Dean Bill Randle at the 2014
Small Farmers’ Appreciation Day lun-cheon
in March.
Speaking before a packed audi-ence
of small farmers, Cooperative
Extension staff and supporters, agri-business
leaders, and elected and
university officials, including N.C.
Commissioner of Agriculture Steve
Troxler and N.C. A&T Chancellor
Harold L. Martin Sr., Randle announced
that the effort will be guided by a new
N.C. A&T Small Farm Collaborative.
Randle said he’s hearing sugges-tions
from across the state about what
N.C. A&T can do to step up its service
to the small farm community. The
Collaborative will focus on new staff,
programs and resources to provide
education on:
• Marketing and marketplace access.
• Business management, best man-agement
practices, and federal and
state assistance programs.
• Innovations in food production and
farmer education programs for both
beginning and advanced farmers.
The Collaborative will be adminis-tered
by the SAES, and will be open to
stakeholders including industry, farms
and universities, including N.C. State,
A&T’s sister land-grant.
African American owned farms have
increased in number from 1,491 in 2007
to 1,637 in 2012 — and the overall acre-age
under cultivation in these enter-prises
has increased by nearly 20,000
Randle reported, adding that despite
these successes, challenges loom for
the state’s small farming community.
Eighty-six percent of African American
farms had sales under $50,000; 51 per-cent
of those farmers’ sole source of
income is farming; and most farmers
are nearing retirement age, he said.
“Small farmers are also older,”
Randle said. “Only 3 percent are under
age 34. We have to re-engage the next
generation of youth.”
Progress Report
Ryan Wiebe is the 2014 North Carolina Small Farmer of
the Year.
on the move North Carolina Agricultural and
Technical State University
School of Agriculture and
Environmental Sciences Newsletter
www.ag.ncat.edu
April 2014 • Vol. XIII, No. 2
Yancey County organic grower named top farmer for 2014
Carl K. Bond of Windsor, an A&T alumnus
who is the manager of Rhodes Bond and
Sons Farm Inc. Bond also worked as an agri-cultural
marketing specialist with USDA for
more than 30 years, and is active in several
community and statewide organizations. He
is the vice president of the Bertie County
Farm Bureau Federation Inc., and a member
of the N.C. Farm Bureau Federation Inc. He
is also the polemarch of the Ahoskie Alumni
Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc.
and is vice president of the Bertie County FSA
Committee.
Rogena Deese of Rowland, who has been a
Cooperative Extension Center advisory council
member for both Scotland and Robeson coun-ties.
Considered a staunch advocate of 4-H
and other Cooperative Extension programs,
Deese has been known to lobby state lawmak-ers
on behalf of Extension programs. Deese
has also served as a supervisor, court coun-selor
and in other roles in the juvenile justice
system.
Brionna Dyer of Greensboro, a student rep-resentative
from N.C. A&T. Dyer volunteers
at two local day care centers. She has also
provided tours to elementary students at
A&T’s University Farm, and is an undergradu-ate
research assistant for the grant program,
Using Technology to Deliver Parenting
Education and Information. Dyer is a member
of the National Association for the Education
of Young Children and is a member of the
National Black Child Development Institute.
James Eure of Winton, who is senior vice
president of the State Employees’ Credit
Union. He is also president of the Hertford
County Public Schools Foundation and a trust-ee
at Roanoke Chowan Community College.
His many other civic engagements include
service as a director of the Ahoskie Chamber
of Commerce and as regional director of the
Albemarle Regional Library. Eure’s roots are
also established at the local level as a member
of the Hertford County Cooperative Extension
Advisory Council. Eure also used 1 acre of
Credit Union property to plant a community
garden last year in Ahoskie, working with area
elementary school children.
John A. Gibson Jr. of Nashville, who retired after 30
years with Nash County Cooperative Extension leading
programs with farmers, local governments and com-munity
organizations. As board chairman of the United
Community Ministries, Gibson has led initiatives to
reduce homelessness. He also works to address sub-stance
abuse and other local issues. Gibson has also
used the Community Voices program, created at A&T,
to train citizens in leadership development for the Down
East Partnership for Children. He is a past president of
the Eastern North Carolina Chapter of the Livingstone
College Alumni Association, and briefly served on the
Nash County Board of Elections.
Kelly Godwin of West End, a student member from East
Carolina University. Godwin is a shift leader and events
chair for ECU’s campus kitchen. She is also treasurer for
ECU’s Student Dietetic Association, volunteers at ECU’s
Brody School of Medicine’s Family Medicine Clinic, is
a mentor and tutor through the university’s Office of
Student Development, and is a youth coach for the Pitt-
Greenville Youth Soccer Association. Godwin worked
as a nutrition educator for school-aged youth in The
Cooperative Extension Program at A&T’s 2013 Summer
Internship Program.
Lennox Lindsay of Sylva, a professional potter and a
member of the Southern Highlands Handicraft Guild.
The N.C. State graduate is also a U.S. Air Force veteran,
and a member of St. John’s Episcopal Church and the
Pumpkintown Community Center.
Kamilan Aurielle Lowery of Charlotte (not pictured), a
student representative from N.C. A&T. Lowery is vice
president of the campus Dietetics Club, vice president of
the campus Residents’ Hall Association, and treasurer of
the Kappa Omicron Nu Honor Society. Lowery is also vice
president of the Alpha Phi Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.,
and is an A&T Aggie Ambassador. Lowery worked as a nutrition educator
for school-aged youth in Columbus County, as part of The Cooperative
Extension Program at A&T’s 2013 Summer Internship Program.
Jeremy Wilson of Cherokee, a member of the Eastern
Band of Cherokee Indians. Wilson has long been involved
in community activities, including the Cherokee Youth
Council, which he helped facilitate from 2007 to 2010. An
avid athlete and wellness proponent, Wilson also partici-pated
in the 1,000-mile “2012 Remember the Removal
Bike Ride.” The event commemorates the Trail of Tears
forced migration of 19th century Cherokee Indians from
lands east of the Mississippi to Oklahoma. Wilson, who
is attending Western Carolina University, is also a board
member of the N.C. Trail of Tears Association.
Kayla Shomaker-Woodruff of New London, who has a
background in retail sales, catering and radio broadcast-ing.
Shomaker-Woodruff has worked at Belk department
store as a supervisor, buyer and sales associate, and has
also worked as a personal chef and caterer. Shomaker-
Woodruff is a member of the Montgomery County
Planning Services for the Aging, and delivers food to
senior citizens in her community. She also worked close-ly
with Cooperative Extension centers serving Caldwell,
Montgomery and Stanly counties and has judged sev-eral
4-H activities on the local and district levels in the
categories of food preparation, clothing and crafts.
The advisory panel that guides The Cooperative
Extension Program at A&T welcomed 10 new mem-bers
into its ranks at a February meeting. Three students
with ties to A&T are included on the new panel. The
21-member Strategic Planning Council, which gauges
and reports community issues to be addressed through
Cooperative Extension, met for two days in Greensboro.
The group heard presentations from staff, welcomed
the new members and seated a new chairman, Debbie
Maye of Greene County.
The new members are:
Extension’s Strategic Planning Council welcomes 10 new members
on the move
Among the symposiums at the
American Chemical Society’s annual
conference in Dallas in March was
one at which 11 top scientists, includ-ing
Dr. Shengmin Sang of the SAES’s
Center for Excellence in Post-Harvest
Technologies at the N.C. Research
Campus, presented recent findings
on compounds found in oats. The
findings included growing evidence
that a compound found only in oats possesses
antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-itching and
anti-cancer properties. Sang is lead scientist for
functional foods at the Center for Excellence in
Post-Harvest Technologies at the N.C. Research
Campus.
Sang also has been selected as one of two
inaugural faculty representatives from A&T for
the “HBCU Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Collaborative.” More than 40 HBCUs applied for
the 15 slots in the Entrepreneurship Collaborative,
which is a joint undertaking of the Association of
Public and Land-Grant Universities, the National
Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and the United
Negro College Fund.
Dr. Paula E. Faulkner of the
Department of Agribusiness, Applied
Economics and Agriscience Education
has been elected to a three-year term
as a member of the Social Sciences
Division Council that is one of 10
discipline-based divisional councils
established to make decisions guid-ing
programs and benefits that the
Council on Undergraduate Research
(CUR) offers its members. The CUR is a national
organization composed of nearly 10,000 individ-ual
members and more than 650 colleges and
universities. The CUR supports faculty develop-ment
in proposal writing, research environment
assessments and other strategies for expanding
undergraduate research resources.
Dr. John O’Sullivan, the SAES’s
professor of sustainable agriculture
and local food systems, has been
awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant
to conduct research into Uruguay’s
food production and delivery sys-tems.
The Fulbright U.S. Scholar
Program, sponsored by the U.S.
Department of State Bureau of
Educational and Cultural Affairs, pro-vides
teaching and research grants
to U.S. faculty and experienced professionals
in a variety of academic and professional fields.
O’Sullivan’s research work will build on a proj-ect,
coordinated by the Center for Environmental
Farming Systems, that established an inter-national
exchange that has sent students and
Cooperative Extension agents and teaching
faculty from North Carolina to Uruguay to study
farming operations and research stations.
faculty & staff notes
Urban gardening and food justice pioneer Robin Emmons talks
about how she founded the nonprofit Sow Much Good, a nine-acre
garden that provides more than 26,000 pounds of fruits and
vegetables to limited-resource communities in Charlotte, N.C.
Emmons spoke as part of the 2014 Small Farms Week activities.
“ Throughout the University’s history, one thing has remained the
same: We are committed to the land-grant system, to our roots
in agriculture, to farmers and to the citizens of North Carolina.
Today, we now call more broadly on all areas of our University,
along with the SAES, to help us deliver more successfully on our
land-grant mission.”
Dr. Harold L. Martin Sr., chancellor of N.C. A&T State University
“ We have to re-engage and engage the next generation of agri-cultural
leaders. This is our 100-year celebration of Cooperative
Extension. It’s a good time to evaluate. We will begin to ramp up
and step up our programs.”
Dr. Bill Randle, dean of the School of Agriculture and Environmental
Sciences, administrator of The Cooperative Extension Program, director of
Agricultural Research
“ What if every major city contributed just a little bit of their
resources for food systems; it would make such a big difference.”
Jasmine Scott, Agricultural Education major rephrasing the point she liked
best from the urban agricultural documentary “Growing Cities.”
Preparing. Finding. Implementing solutions.
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__U_S_ _P_o_s_ta_g_e_ _P_a_id__
___P_e_rm__it_ N__o_. _2_02_ __
__G_r_e_e_n_s_b_o_r_o_, N__C__
on the move
North Carolina A&T State University School of
Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Newsletter —
Produced by Agricultural Communications
Dr. Harold L. Martin Sr., Chancellor
Dr. Bill Randle, Dean, School of Agriculture
 and Environmental Sciences; Administrator, The
Cooperative Extension Program; Director,
Agricultural Research
Dr. Antoine Alston, Interim Associate Dean,
Academic Studies
Dr. Fletcher Barber Jr., Associate Administrator,
The Cooperative Extension Program
Willie T. Ellis Jr., Associate Dean, Administration
Dr. Shirley Hymon-Parker, Associate Dean,
Agricultural Research
North Carolina A&T State University is a land-grant
doctoral/research institution and AA/EEO employer.
Send change of address and correspondence to:
on the move Newsletter Editor
Agricultural Research Program
CH Moore Agricultural Research Station
Greensboro, NC 27411
or online:
http://tinyurl.com/mmtpf5c
7,000 copies of this public document
were printed on recycled paper at
a cost of $1,459.60 or $0.21 per copy.
Distributed in furtherance of the acts of Congress of May 8
and June 30, 1914. Employment and program opportunities
are open to all people regardless of race, color, national
origin, sex, age or disability. North Carolina A&T State
University, North Carolina State University, US Department
of Agriculture and local governments cooperating.
www.ag.ncat.edu
on the move/flip side
• The SAES Student Awards
Banquet for the 2013–14 academic
year is Thursday April 17, at
6 p.m. in the Memorial Student
Union Building.
• Small Farms Field Day at the
University Farm will be Thursday,
June 19. Research projects and
production demonstrations
will be open for public inspection.
• 2014 Research Apprenticeship
Program for High School
Students: June 22 to July 18
on campus.
University Farm staff prepare for a Small Farms Field Day.
Mark Your Calendars