TN.gov Newsroom

NASHVILLE - Shopping for a gift that will please can take a lot of fun out of the holidays—and a lot of cash out of your pocket, especially when you tally up the cost of fuel spent driving from store to store and the value of your own time. The only thing worse than spending a day shopping when you could have been home by the fire is going to all that effort and still coming home with a gift you really don’t feel good about giving.

NASHVILLE – The State Soil Conservation Committee will meet Dec. 8 at 1:30 p.m. CST at the Cool Springs Marriott, located at 700 Cool Springs Blvd. in Franklin, Tenn., in conjunction with the Tennessee Farm Bureau convention.

NASHVILLE - The Tennessee Department of Agriculture is encouraging Tennesseans to purchase “real” Christmas trees this holiday season. Christmas trees are a renewable and recyclable resource that contains no petroleum products and leaves a very small carbon footprint. Buying a natural tree this year from a nearby farm is a great holiday gift to the environment and to local farmers.

NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Department of Agriculture is offering advice to consumers when purchasing firewood this winter. When buying firewood, consumers need to take into consideration a variety of factors including the type of wood, its origin and the quantity.

NASHVILLE - The Tennessee Department of Agriculture announced that Tennessee producers, processors and handlers of organic agricultural products can be reimbursed for 75 percent of the cost of certification up to $750. The new certification cost share program is funded by the federal 2008 Farm Bill and the USDA National Organic Program.

NASHVILLE – The 2009 Tennessee Agritourism Conference is set for Jan. 26-27 at the Chattanooga Marriott and Convention Center.

“This conference has become a ‘must attend’ event for many of the state’s most serious agritourism farmers, who continually upgrade their professional skills and their farms’ attractions,” says Pamela Bartholomew, agritourism coordinator for the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.

NASHVILLE - Governor Phil Bredesen, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and the Middle Tennessee State University Center for Historic Preservation today honored Tennessee’s oldest farms at a luncheon during the Tennessee Farmland Legacy Conference. Pioneer farms are farms founded in or before 1796 that have remained in the same family and in continuous agricultural production.

NASHVILLE – The Tennessee departments of Agriculture and Environment and Conservation are taking steps in a long-term effort to help restore remaining portions of Pinson Mounds, a Native American archeological site.

NASHVILLE – Hundreds of visitors will head for Ellington Agricultural Center in Nashville Oct. 18-19 for the 16th Annual Music & Molasses Arts & Crafts Festival.