UT Extension Launches Online Domestic Kitchen Certification Course

News and Information from the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture

Knoxville, TN – Earning certification to prepare, manufacture and sell certain foods from a home kitchen is now more convenient for Tennesseans thanks to a new online training module from University of Tennessee Extension.

Domestic Kitchen Food Safety Training, which launched Wednesday, February 1st, provides instruction centered around the state’s Domestic Kitchen Rule. The rule allows people to commercially prepare, manufacture and sell non-potentially hazardous foods in the home while ensuring the public’s health is protected. [Read more]

Products So Local, They’re In Your Phone

Nashville, TN – Happy Holidays! The Tennessee Department of Agriculture has a gift for you: a store full of locally grown and made products you can keep inside your telephone.

Savvy cell phone users can now point their phone cameras at a “quick response,” or “QR” code, and launch an application that takes them straight to the Pick Tennessee Products website and Taste of Tennessee Online Store. Once the code has done its job, shoppers can instantly access all the local farm-direct ingredients, artisan foods, gift baskets, and even Christmas trees listed at www.picktnproducts.org. [Read more]

TWRA announces availability of Riparian Tree Planting Grants for Fiscal Year 2012

Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) announces the availability of grant dollars to assist cities, schools, community organizations, civic groups, watershed organizations, and conservation groups, etc., with riparian tree planting projects.

All seedlings must be bought through the Department of Agriculture, Division of Forestry. Tree planting season in Tennessee is October through March. [Read more]

Tennessee’s New Wild Hog Management now in Effect

Nashville, TN – New regulations regarding wild hog management in Tennessee are now in effect. Changes to wild hog management in Tennessee came as a response to concerns from landowners, the Tennessee Legislature, the Farm Bureau, and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency biologists.

Wild hogs have been removed from big game status to a non-protected nuisance animal marked for eradication. Wild hogs cause extensive damage to farm crops, wildlife habitat, contribute to extreme erosion and stream pollution, and carry diseases harmful to livestock or other animals as well as humans. [Read more]

State of Tennessee extends Public Caves Closure into third year to protect Bats in Southeast

Nashville, TN - Caves located on state lands in Tennessee will remain closed in an effort to slow the spread of White Nose Syndrome (WNS) among the state’s bat population. During the upcoming year, state and Federal agencies and non-governmental organizations will consult with recreational caving organizations to determine how to best manage the spread of this disease while maintaining high quality recreation.

State land holding agencies including Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture initially agreed to close all caves on public property beginning July 1st, 2009. The Nature Conservancy has also agreed to follow the state’s lead to extend the closure on all caves located on Conservancy property. [Read more]

Tennessee identifies Large Animal Care Shortage Areas

Veterinarians Can Apply for School Loan Repayment Program

Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Department of Agriculture has identified four areas of the state that are now eligible for USDA assistance in filling a shortage of large animal veterinary practitioners.

The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) will pay up to $25,000 each year towards qualified educational loans of eligible veterinarians who agree to serve in an underserved area for three years. [Read more]

Haslan requests Presidential Disaster Declaration

Initial counties to include Bradley, Greene, Hamilton and Washington
More counties to be added as damage assessments are completed

Nashville, TN - Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has asked President Barack Obama to declare four Tennessee Counties as federal disaster areas following the severe storms, flash flooding and tornadoes that struck the state beginning on April 25th, 2011.

Should this initial request for assistance be granted Bradley, Greene, Hamilton and Washington counties would have access to varying levels of federal assistance programs.

As local officials and responding agencies complete damage assessments, other counties are expected be added to the April 25th declaration request. [Read more]

Environment and Conservation Detects Low Levels of Radiation in Tennessee

Levels Do Not Indicate a Health Threat

Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation reports that results from air monitoring for radioactive isotopes confirm that no threat to public health exists related to the incident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.

Routine and ongoing air monitoring performed by the state indicates the presence of very low levels of Iodine-131, an isotope linked to the Japanese power plant. Tennessee’s results are consistent with sampling results reported by federal agencies, licensees and neighboring states. [Read more]

Seasonal Ingredients Are Falling Out of Trees, Into Holiday Favorites

Nashville, TN – The first documented great idea that ever fell out of a tree took place in 1666, when a falling apple inspired Sir Isaac Newton to formulate some theories about gravity. Great ideas can still fall out of trees—like the idea to make traditional holiday recipes fresh and local with ingredients like apples and pecans.

Apples and pecans fall in Tennessee just in time for the holiday season, bringing a bright, clean taste to dishes sometimes weighed down with heavy herbs and gravy. Using local, seasonal foods at holiday meals is a great way to celebrate the grateful spirit of the early Americans who first feasted with them.

American holiday dishes are still anchored firmly in 18th century New England, featuring Old World herbs and staple foods made new with ingredients that were close at hand. English colonists, and later, citizens of the new republic, used local game and seafood with newfangled produce like pumpkins and corn, creating foods that expressed their newfound sense of self sufficiency and abundance. [Read more]

New Guide Shows Off Tennessee’s Plentiful, Beautiful Equine Trails

Nashville, TN – A new equine trail guide is available now from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. The new statewide directory, offered free of charge, is the most comprehensive ever published for Tennessee.

Guides can be requested by visiting www.picktnproducts.org. Click on “Equine Resources” to be directed to an online request form, and the guide will be sent by mail.

The 50 page guide features easy to use regional sections combined with symbols to indicate private trails, private stables, overnight stabling, city parks, state parks, national parks & forests, state forests, bed & breakfasts with stabling, cabins, primitive camping, camping with electrical hookups, restroom and shower facilities and even wagon trails. Contact information is included for every location. [Read more]

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