Local News

HILLSVILLE — Farms and forests remain productive in Carroll County and can continue into the future, says Extension Agent Webb Flowers.

Food and timber products are homegrown businesses that have a big impact on the local economy, and county officials want to see it remain that way as Carroll’s other staple industries — furniture and textiles — are on the decline.

The commodities grown on farms and in forests generate millions of dollars of revenue in a year, but growers face challenges as expenses increase across the board.

INDEPENDENCE — A site has been chosen for the new regional water system in Independence — and negotiations are underway to purchase the land.

Bobby Lane, of Lane Engineering, updated Independence Town Council July 8 on the progress of both the new water system and the upgrades to the town’s wastewater plant — both of which will serve the new state prison being built just outside Independence.

Lane said a site had been chosen for the new plant, but the land had not been secured yet.

HILLSVILLE — Educators have laid the groundwork for a multi-disciplinary outdoor laboratory called the Carroll County Public Schools Farm.

The research farm will share the 90 or so acres with Hillsville Elementary School.

The school takes up approximately 30 acres, but the rest of the property will be farmed out to enhance agricultural and science programs in the public schools, said Carroll High agriculture teacher Randy Webb and Mark Burnette, director of secondary education.

HILLSVILLE — Forward thinking farmers in Carroll County want to do what they can to avoid food scares, like the recent salmonella outbreak in tomatoes, by adopting better agricultural practices, a Virginia Cooperative Extension agent said.

Health officials know that the source of the outbreak that sickened 167 in three months is not tomatoes from Virginia — almost all of them are still in the field, said Wythe Morris, an Extension agent specializing in horticulture.