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Horticulture Program | ||
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The Extension Horticulture program in Person County consists of both Commercial and Home Horticulture: A. Commercial Horticulture involves working with growers of horticultural plants that gain their livelihood from growing and marketing these plants. These include:
 The Extension Horticulture Agent assists the above growers by making them aware of different marketing options that are available to them, as well as diagnosing plant problems, and recommending control methods for insects, diseases, and weeds.A one day school on the art and science of growing specialty crops is given each year to interested people who can learn from experienced growers and university researchers that are the speakers at the school. A wholesale produce auction that is held in Oxford and opens each year in July, gives large fruit and vegetable growers another wholesale marketing outlet to sell their produce. New Marketing Opportunity for Southeast Growers! The auction system for produce mimics the tobacco auction as a way for growers to sell produce in lots. An auctioneer is used for on-site buyers to bid on the items. The produce is sold to the buyer and the grower is paid on a timely basis.  The produce auction emphasizes wholesale marketing, rather than retail. A number of retail outlets, i.e., roadside stands and markets can buy their produce at the produce auction to satisfy their demands for high quality standards. Other buyers can include wholesale produce houses, specialty restaurant chefs, as well as people who buy and re-sell produce at farmers markets.For large buyers who cannot be present at the auction, an "order buyer" that works on a commission basis, can buy produce for a number of stores. Fruits and vegetables will be graded and packaged in quantities suitable for selling to wholesale buyers or others interested in buying in the volume quantities offered. Other items can be sold at the auction, including flowers, nursery stock, Christmas trees, hay, grain, firewood, and straw, to name a few. To be successful, the wholesale produce auction must provide wholesale buyers with a positive experience at their first purchase. This includes the following: 1. Growers will learn how to handle produce properly after harvest to retain its highest quality when sold. 2. Products must be properly packaged to meet industry standards. 3. Enough produce must be available to make the trip to the auction worth the buyer's effort. Once the auction has been established, additional acreage of crops being planted usually results. 4. Growers should use the auction as an additional marketing outlet, not as their only marketing outlet! When selling horticultural crops, the ability to sell your crops greatly increases as you increase your marketing outlets. In other words, don't put all your eggs in one basket! 5. Growers selling at the auction should realize that prices will rise and fall throughout the year. Growers should not get discouraged when prices fall and abandon the auction. Low prices will attract more buyers, and when the prices rise, there will be an increase in buyers to buy the same quality produce at higher prices. 6. Commitment and stick-to-it-ive-ness to the auction need to be followed by the grower throughout the whole season, in order to receive the highest price overall. 7. Clear communications with buyers is essential. Buyers need to know what products will be available during the season and when they will be available. Buyers need to have clear information on how to contact the produce auction personnel. During the next few months in 2002, a series of produce auction meetings will be held at the Granville County Extension Office, 208 Wall Street, in Oxford, NC. They will be designed to form a board of directors that will have the responsibility of crafting the rules and regulations for the auction, under the auspices of an educational growers association that sellers will belong to in order to sell at the auction. Educational topics, such as post-harvest handling of produce and proper produce packaging, will also be taught in order to bring new growers up-to-speed in order to offer the highest quality product to the buyer. Directions Take Exit #204 off Interstate 85 in Oxford. Travel north on NC 96 toward Oxford. Go through the first traffic light, then the road becomes Linden Avenue. Pass three streets (right-hand turns) that intersect with Linden Avenue. At the fourth street, turn right onto Hunt Drive. The National Guard Armory will be on the left, and the Extension center is behind the armory. At the end of Hunt Drive, the road curves to the left and becomes Wall Street. The Extension center is located on the second floor. For more information, contact Carl Cantaluppi at:carl_cantaluppi@ncsu.edu or at 336.599.1195 B. Home Horticulture involves working with county residents with the planning, planting, and maintenance of fruits, vegetables, ornamental, and turf in their home landscapes. Home gardeners can tune into WKRX 96.7 FM and Cable TV Channel 10 in Roxboro to hear the "Gardener's Corner" program every Friday morning from 11a.m. to 12 Noon. Every spring, the agent conducts gardening classes as the program airs on radio and TV to the general public. Carl Cantaluppi Extension Area Agent, Agriculture, Commercial & Residential Horticulture 304 S. Morgan St. Room 123 Roxboro, NC 27573 (336) 599-1195 | ||
