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 - 2007 Recipients
Project: Helping North Carolina's Farmers in Transition from Tobacco Production Improve Water Quality While Protecting Natural Resources for the Public
Contact: Cecil Settle
NC Foundation for Soil & Water Conservation, Inc.
2012 Lodestar Drive
Raleigh, NC 27615-2519
(919) 873-2158
Grant Amount: $280,249
Summary: Project will provide cost share assistance to farmers transitioning from tobacco or diversifying, for installing Best Management Practices that prevent sediment, nutrients, or other pollutants from entering streams within the boundaries of their farms.
Area Served: Statewide
Project: Expanding Markets and Grower Profits for Fresh NC Sweet Potatoes
Contact: John Kimber
North Carolina SweetPotato Commission Foundation, Inc.
1327 N. Brightleaf Boulevard, Suite H
Smithfield, NC 27577
(919) 845-0969
Grant Amount: $40,000
Summary: Project will design and implement a retail/foodservice sales test for three marketing initiatives for North Carolina sweet potatoes. Objectives are to accurately quantify the effectiveness in raising and sustaining increased sales via three marketing programs within selected retail produce departments and casual dining foodservice establishments.
Area Served: Statewide
Project: Local Market for Local Growers
Contact: Amanda Whitaker
City of Lexington and Lexington Farmers Market Association
28 West Center Street
Lexington, NC 27292
(336) 248-3900
Grant Amount: $75,000
Summary: Project will improve the Lexington Farmers Market, including facility improvements at the old freight depot where the market is held as well as marketing and education efforts to increase sales. Goals are to improve the capability of local growers in Lexington and surrounding areas to expand operations, produce quality products, and market and sell their products.
Area Served: Davidson, Montgomery, Forsyth, Guilford, Randolph, and Rowan counties
Project: Reducing Farm Production Costs Using Alternative Energy
Contact: Randy Collins
NC Cooperative Extension Service, Graham County
PO Box 486
Robbinsville, NC 28771
(828) 479-7979
Grant Amount: $40,000
Summary: Project will construct and install a micro-hydroelectric generation unit at the farm of a trout producer and former tobacco grower in Graham County. The project will serve as an educational site for interested citizens throughout the far west region to help them understand how alternative energy systems can be applied to their homes and farms.
Area Served: Graham County
Project: Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Project
Contact: Jason Roehrig
Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA
PO Box 640
Pittsboro, NC 27312
(919) 542-1396
Grant Amount: $300,000
Summary: Project will generate at least 20 new cost-share initiatives targeting 24 counties located throughout North Carolina. Funds will be allocated to participating farms through a competitive pass-through grants process, increasing farm and community income by providing support that emphasizes: 1) developing diversified ag enterprises to supplement or replace tobacco income; 2) ensuring intergenerational stability of NC farming operations; 3) creating and maintaining quality employment in target areas; 4) coordinating existing human resources to help projects succeed; 5) converting existing tobacco facilities and equipment to new use; 6) adding value to raw farm commodities; 7) making optimal use of natural resources.
Area Served: Alexander, Burke, Caswell, Beaufort, Caldwell, Craven, Cumberland, Forsyth, Guilford, Iredell, Jones, McDowell, Person, Randolph, Wilkes, Davidson, Greene, Harnett, Johnston, Lenoir, Nash, Pitt, Wayne, and Wilson counties
Project: Fair Bluff Lumber River Enhancement
Contact: Spruell Britt
Town of Fair Bluff
PO Box 157
Fair Bluff, NC 28439
(910) 649-7426
Grant Amount: $300,000
Summary: Project will support the Lumber River Enhancement Project through purchase of properties by the Town of Fair Bluff to expand the Riverwalk area and to renovate existing buildings, as well as construct a new Riverwalk footbridge. This project will replace lost tobacco income through increasing vitality of the local economy by promoting travel and tourism, provide greater access to the Lumber River for all people, and will protect the water quality of the Lumber River by establishing a natural conservation buffer in the downtown Fair Bluff area.
Area Served: Columbus and Robeson counties
Project: Project New Start: PHASE III
Contact: Howard Jones
Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) of Wilson, Inc.
PO Box 547
Wilson, NC 27894
(252) 291-0038
Grant Amount: $173,000
Summary: Project will refine and continue services to re-train dislocated tobacco workers and other dislocated workers for employability. This project will increase the overall level of training, employment, and income of dislocated tobacco workers by enhancing their knowledge, expertise, and enthusiasm while providing them with case management.
Area Served: Wilson County
Project: Telamon Corporation
Contact: Sonya Hall
Telamon Corporation
3937 Western Boulevard
Raleigh, NC 27606
(919) 239-8111
Grant Amount: $150,000
Summary: Project will provide workforce development training to dislocated farm workers in Johnston and Sampson Counties to increase the target population's basic educational qualifications and employment skills, prepare them for post-secondary education, broker their access to employment in high growth occupations, improve language abilities, and open connections between them and targeted employers.
Area Served: Johnston and Sampson counties
Project: Project Skill-UP
Contact: Barbara Boyce
North Carolina Community College System
5001 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699
(919) 807-7100
Grant Amount: $242,000
Summary: Project will support continued success of workforce development programs at Forsyth Technical Community College, Lenoir Community College, Southeastern Community College, and Vance-Granville Community College, and will expand the program into three additional sites. Outcomes focus on education and training placements for individuals adversely affected by changes in the tobacco industry, career exploration activities, achieving educational credentials, and job placement.
Area Served: Forsyth, Stokes, Lenoir, Greene, Jones, Columbus, Vance, Franklin, Granville, Warren, and 3 additional sites in East, Central, and Western parts of the state.
Project: Developing Bramble Production as a Viable Farm Enterprise in NC
Contact: Debbie Robertson
North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Research Stations Division
1001 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699
(919) 733-3236
Grant Amount: $165,000
Summary: Project will develop knowledge of bramble production as a viable farm alternative to tobacco. Funds will support breeding new varieties of brambles that are well adapted to NC and of higher quality and yield. Commercial blackberry production holds the greatest promise for NC farmers due to greater availability of adapted cultivars. Raspberry breeding will assist in developing cultivars with greater heat tolerance for growing in the piedmont and coastal plain.
Area Served: Statewide
Project: College of Agriculture & Life Sciences Agricultural Leadership Development Program
Contact: Bill Collins
c/o NC Agricultural Foundation Inc.
NCSU Campus Box 7645
Raleigh, NC 27695
(919) 515-2000
Grant Amount: $203,585
Summary: Project supports the 2008-2010 Ag Leadership Development Program, involving thirty farmers and agribusiness professionals ages twenty to forty-five from across NC. The program will develop a cadre of leaders able to meet the challenges of the changing agricultural economy. Participants will experience personal and professional growth, enhance understanding of agricultural and rural community issues, and understand and apply new leadership skills to build personal and public capacity.
Area Served: Statewide
Project: Tobacco Growers Communication Assistance
Contact: Kathy Kennel
c/o NC Tobacco Foundation, Inc
NCSU Campus Box 7645
Raleigh, NC 27695
(919) 515-2000
Grant Amount: $65,730
Summary: Project will maintain delivery of critical and valuable information to tobacco growers statewide. Project includes preparation, printing and distribution of four seasonal newsletters and production, printing and distribution of the Tobacco Growers Resource Guide.
Area Served: Statewide
Project: Succeed!: Leadership and Production Skills for Today's Tobacco Growers
Contact: Bill Collins
c/o NC Tobacco Foundation, Inc
NCSU Campus Box 7645
Raleigh, NC 27695
(919) 515-2000
Grant Amount: $71,180
Summary: Develop and implement a new young farmer production and leadership short course called SUCCEED. The course will help young growers compete in tobacco production in the face of continuing changes in the tobacco industry and in the entire agricultural sector. Course activities will address economics of tobacco production, agronomy, insect management, disease management, mechanization of production, curing, marketing, and grading.
Area Served: Statewide
Project: Strengthening the Capacity of Extension Professionals for Value-Added Agri-Business Development
Contact: Gary Bullen
NCSU Box 8109
Raleigh, NC 27695
(919) 515-6096
Grant Amount: $48,647
Summary: Project builds upon the Creating Business Opportunities (CBO) training of 2005 and 2006, and provides a core group of CBO graduates with more in-depth business training and access to nationally recognized business resources. The 28 participants completing this project will serve as a resource to other Extension professionals in NC. A nationally recognized business-planning curriculum will be adapted to fit the special needs of agriculture and Extension professionals.
Area Served: Statewide
Project: Development of the Elaney Wood Family Heritage Farm and Alternative Agriculture Training Center
Contact: Mary Kearney
2029 Mewborn Church Road
Snow Hill, NC 28580
(252) 747-5054
Grant Amount: $121,000
Summary: Project supports establishment of the Elaney Wood Family Heritage Farm and Alternative Agriculture Training Center in Greene County. Grant funds will support tobacco dependent individuals interested in diversification by developing a comprehensive strategic plan, designs for an agricultural training center, development of marketing and tourism plans, and relocation of existing buildings to the project site.
Area Served: Greene County
Project: Food Safety Training for Extension Agents and Produce Growers
Contact: Annette Dunlap
NCSU Box 8109
Raleigh, NC 27695
(919) 515-5969
Grant Amount: $132,017
Summary: Project provides comprehensive statewide training to extension agents who will assist producers and their employees in the development of food safety plans, good agricultural practices (GAPs) and best management practices (BMPs), and the training of farm workers. Agents will be trained in the 8 GAP principles, writing food safety plans, and liability issues of direct marketing. Implementation will be coordinated by the Fresh Produce Safety Task Force created in March 2007.
Area Served: Statewide
Project: One-Stop-Shopping for Alternative Agriculture and Value-Added Enterprise Information
Contact: Blake Brown
NCSU Box 8109
Raleigh, NC 27695
(919) 515-4536
Grant Amount: $46,366
Summary: Project expands the Value-Added and Alternative Agriculture website at www.cals.ncsu.edu/value-added. New web pages developed will provide extension faculty and farmers with comprehensive business and technical information on selected value-added and alternative agriculture enterprises. The goal is to increase farm profitability and lower costs of evaluating new enterprises for possible addition to farms.
Area Served: Statewide
Project: Northwest North Carolina Sustainable Agriculture Project and the Big Chill
Contact: Hollis Wild
New River Community Partners
PO Box 1641
Jefferson, NC 28640
(336) 372-8118
Grant Amount: $100,000
Summary: Project will support tobacco growers transitioning to alternative crops by providing New River Organic Growers with new infrastructure and marketing support. Project will serve to strengthen collaboration with Eastern Carolina Organics (ECO) through linking the organizations with refrigerated produce transportation for cross-distribution.
Area Served: Alleghany, Ashe, and Watauga counties
Project: Environmental Stewardship Recognition Program
Contact: Jennifer Brooks
Durham Soil & Water Conservation District
721 Foster St.
Durham, NC 27701
(919) 560-0558
Grant Amount: $1,665
Summary: Project will recognize each farmer who is actively participating in agricultural best management practices programs on their land. Signs placed at the entrance to each farmer’s land will carry the simple message of "This Farm Cares About the Environment." The project will increase general public awareness of environmentally beneficial conservation practices being implemented by the agricultural community, and enable farmers to feel a sense of pride, accomplishment and ownership in conservation practices on their land.
Area Served: Durham County
www.co.durham.nc.us/departments/swcd
Project: Regional Agriculture Sustainability Program
Contact: Donald Belk
BRAC Regional Task Force, Inc.
PO Box 70999
Fort Bragg, NC 28307
(910) 436-1345
Grant Amount: $203,100
Summary: Project is a collaborative effort to transition agriculture near Fort Bragg from tobacco and other traditional commodities to serve the imminent population growth of 30k - 40k new residents by 2012. Efforts will link the food, fuel, and fiber needs of the country's largest military installation to the agricultural capacity of the region. Funds will support a Regional Sustainable Ag Agent for three years.
Area Served: Bladen, Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Richmond, Robeson, Sampson, Scotland counties
Project: Occaneechi Homeland Preservation Project: Phase III
Contact: Forest Hazel
Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation
207 East Center Street
Mebane, NC 27302
(919) 304-3723
Grant Amount: $50,000
Summary: Project will support reconstruction of two heritage farms, one from 1880 and one from 1940, to illustrate how the community lived at these two periods of time. The farms will be conceptually tied into the already completed 1680 Occaneechi Village that opened in June 2007. Community members will be trained to work as historical interpreters on the heritage farms. The tribe will hold workshops for local farmers to raise awareness of alternatives to tobacco farming.
Area Served: Alamance, Caswell, and Orange counties
Project: Western North Carolina Agricultural Options Program
Contact: Rob Hawk
c/o HandMade in America, Inc.
125 South Lexington Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801
(828) 252-0121
Grant Amount: $215,282
Summary: Project will provide micro grants of $2,500 or $5,000 for demonstration projects to 40 farmers located in Extension's West District. The program's continuance will advance sustainable agricultural development in WNC by improving the mountain farm while conserving water, open space, and wildlife habitat. Grants will be awarded on a competitive basis. Participating farmers will attend agribusiness workshops and host farm visits from agents and the project director.
Area Served: Buncombe, Haywood, Madison, Yancey, Mitchell, Graham, Avery, Transylvania, Cherokee, Cherokee Indian Reservation, Clay, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Swain, and Watauga counties
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/wncagoptions/
Project: Buy Haywood-Planning for Improved Beef Processing, Marketing, and Sales
Contact: George Ivey
c/o Haywood County Economic Development Commission
144 Industrial Park Drive
Waynesville, NC 28786
(828) 456-3737
Grant Amount: $25,000
Summary: Project will conduct a feasibility study and create an implementation plan to re-establish livestock sales in the WNC region.
Area Served: Western North Carolina
Project: Building NC Agriculture with Grass-fed Beef Production and Market Access
Contact: Phil Hamilton
Agribusiness Center, Mount Olive College
634 Henderson Street
Mount Olive, NC 28365
(919) 658-7510
Grant Amount: $125,000
Summary: Project will evaluate and develop a strategic initiative to build a grass based cattle production industry in NC. Goals include providing an additional source of income for farmers by creating a grass fed beef industry on a large scale, providing farmers with direct access to consumers through a home delivery system, and providing financial training to potential and new grass-fed beef producers.
Area Served: Statewide
Project: Purple Sweet Potato Products Project
Contact: Carol Coulter
Creative Food Ventures/Ashe County Partnership for Children
626 Ashe Central School Road, Unit 1
Jefferson, NC 28640
(336) 982-5127
Grant Amount: $26,179
Summary: Project is a collaborative effort between Creative Food Ventures, Stokes CORE, and Saura Pride Sweet Potato Company to support current and former tobacco growers through harvest, transportation, and washing Stokes County purple sweet potatoes. Infrastructure improvements will help prepare sweet potatoes for processing into puree to make value added products.
Area Served: Ashe and Stokes counties