Ponytail Ag Makes a Stop in Southeast and Northeast North Carolina
Ponytail Ag’s four-month agriculture promotional tour starts out in Southeast and Northeast North Carolina, where we will interview five amazing women involved in mariculture, peanuts and cotton farming. Through the Ponytail Ag campaign, created by N.C. Biotechnology Center’s Ag Sector Development team, N.C. Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, N.C. Farm Bureau and Feed the Dialogue N.C., we hope to educate and inspire females who are interested in farming. Below, learn more about a few of the women and agriculture companies we are visiting.
October 7
Jennifer Dorton-Stryon of Carolina Mariculture Co.
Cedar Island, NC
Jennifer Dorton-Stryon, along with her husband Jay, own and operate Carolina Mariculture Co., an oyster farm in Cedar Island. They specialize in off-bottom mariculture techniques (i.e. floating cages) to farm raise oysters that can be enjoyed all year round. Dorton-Stryon also has more than 13 years of experience leading grant funded projects at UNCW and serves as Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association’s Regional Coastal Ocean Observing System (RCOOS) Manager. On this stop we’ll actually get to go on her boat and see her oysters!
October 9
Beth Foster
Roper, NC
Beth Foster is a second generation farmer who grows corn, wheat, soybeans and cotton with her father, husband and children in Roper. Their family farm is unique due to the advanced technology they use to grow and harvest crops, including a weather app that provides a weather summary for each of her fields and tractors and harvest machines with computer screens that record real-time field data. Their high-tech methods are revolutionizing modern farming.
Julia Coltrain and Ginny Paul of Northeast Regional School of Biotechnology and Agriscience (NERSBA)
Jamesville, NC
Pictured: Julia Coltrain
Pictured: Ginny Paul
Julia Coltrain and Ginny Paul are two extremely knowledgeable agriculture teachers at NERSBA—Paul graduated from East Carolina University with a degree in Secondary Science Education and Coltrain graduated from the University of Mount Olive with a degree in Agriculture Education. NERSBA is the first early college high school of its kind in North Carolina, accepting students from Beaufort, Martin, Pitt, Tyrrell and Washington. The school focuses on STEM education with small class sizes and hands-on learning, as well as lessons from CALS scientists once a month.
Hortense Dodo of IngateyGen, LLC
Elizabeth City, NC
Food scientist Hortense Dodo is making it her mission to develop a hypoallergenic peanut. That’s right—one of the most common allergies in the world may no longer be a problem. Dodo earned her master’s degree in food science and technology at the University of Georgia, followed by a PhD in food biotechnology and molecular biology at Penn State University. She founded her biotechnology company IngateyGen, LLC in order to sell her hypoallergenic peanuts commercially. On this stop we will interview Dodo about her intriguing research with peanuts and how she is able to eliminate dangerous allergens from them.