2007 Grant Recipient Press Release
2006 Grant Recipients
2005 Grant Recipients
2004 Grant Recipients
2003 Grant Recipients
2002 Grant Recipients
2001 Grant Recipients
A Six-Year Retrospective
The North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission is pleased to present this Six-Year Retrospective featuring 33 successful projects funded by the commission from 2001 to 2007.We believe this publication will help North Carolinians - including elected representatives, community leaders and the general public - more fully understand the role the Tobacco Trust Fund Commission is playing to secure a better future for those citizens adversely affected by the decline of tobacco-related income and employment.
Grants - 2001 Recipients
Project: Flue-Cured Tobacco Barn Retrofit Grant
Contact: Flue-Cured Tobacco Cooperative Stabilization Corp.
1304 Annapolis Drive
Raleigh, NC 27608
919-821-4560
Grant Amount: $41.1 million
Summary: Help was needed to assist tobacco producers with the retrofit of their flue-cured bulk barns from direct-fired burners to heat exchangers after research revealed that traditional direct-fired curing methods were increasing nitrosamine levels in the tobacco. Tobacco-specific nitrosamines are potential carcinogens in cigarettes and tobacco companies wanted tobacco lower in nitrosamines. USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation determined that, beginning in 2002, the price support loan differentials for flue-cured tobacco cured in barns with direct heat would be adjusted to a rate half that for tobacco cured in barns with an indirect heat source. Tobacco farmers faced a considerable cut in income. Additionally, the diminished tax value of the non-retrofitted barns would have eroded local tax bases. The Commission recognized that a Qualified Agricultural Program grant allowing the retrofitting of the barns would go a long way to stabilize tobacco-dependent economies and preserve local tax bases.
Area Served: Eastern & Piedmont North Carolina – Flue-Cured
Project: NCDA&CS/NCSU Research Stations Barn Retrofit Grant
Contact: Research Stations Division
NCDA&CS
P.O. Box 27647
Raleigh, NC 27611
919-733-3236
Grant Amount: $168,254
Summary: Following the same concept as the first barn-retrofit grant, this grant allowed NCDA&CS/NCSU Research Stations to retrofit their curing barns so that necessary, on-going research could be conducted under industry standards equivalent to those of most producers.
Area Served: Various Stations – Flue-Cured
Project: Burley Marketing Center Grant
Contact: N.C. Rural Economic Development Center
& The Agricultural Advancement Consortium
4021 Carya Drive
Raleigh, NC 27610
919-250-4314
Grant Amount: $2.47 million over (3) years
Summary: The two remaining burley auction warehouses left in North Carolina were considering closing before the 2002 season – forcing NC burley producers to travel out-of-state to market their crop. In addition, no burley tobacco companies had contract receiving stations in North Carolina. Qualified Agricultural Program grant money was used to create a pilot marketing center for burley tobacco in Asheville, which helps our burley producers save travel costs and reduces the flow of money out of the western NC agricultural economy. Neither burley auction warehouses had to close and both now participate in the Center.
Area Served: Western North Carolina – Burley
Project: Flue-Cured Tobacco Container Corporation Grant
Contact: Flue Cured Tobacco Container Corporation
P.O. Box 12004
Raleigh, NC 27605
919-828-8988
Grant Amount: $2.050 million
Summary: To cut handling costs, tobacco manufacturers transitioned from the traditional burlap sheet wrapping to tobacco baled with cardboard slip-sheet and wire. Historically, the buyer, the warehouseman and the grower had shared the cost of the burlap sheet equally, with each paying $.30. The new system placed the entire cost on the grower at a time of rising production costs and sharp tobacco revenue decline. Growers’ cost-cutting measures placed a further strain on the flagging economic stability of the community. The FCTCC will use money from a Qualified Agricultural Program grant to reimburse farmers up to a half-cent per pound of tobacco marketed in 2002 to help defray packaging supplies. Farmers apply for their reimbursement and requests are crosschecked with warehouse and USDA-FSA data.
Area Served: Eastern & Piedmont North Carolina – Flue-Cured