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 Grant Recipient Press Release
2007 Grant Recipient Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, OCT. 25, 2007
For more information, contact: William Upchurch, executive director, N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund, Phone: (919) 733-2160
Tobacco Trust Fund Commission approves grants
RALEIGH -- The N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission has approved grants totaling $3.2 million for 25 projects to assist North Carolina’s evolving rural and agricultural economies.
“These grants will serve critical needs throughout the state to help retool for 21st century agriculture,” said Commission Chairman Billy Carter. “The commission has selected some outstanding projects to support. They range from developing new market opportunities for North Carolina farmers to workforce development programs designed to put people back to work in high-growth jobs.
“These grants will serve as catalysts to help North Carolina’s farm families as well as the state’s overall economy,” he said. Tobacco-dependent individuals need these investments to meet the rapidly changing requirements of our state’s agriculture industry.”
Commission members funded grants for projects that will focus on diversification initiatives, increasing farm profitability, skill and resource development, natural resource and farmland preservation or community economic development. The grants range in size from $1,665 to $300,000, the maximum grant amount for any one project. The average grant size was $128,000.
The commission’s funding comes from monies paid by cigarette manufacturers as a result of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement.
The N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission was created in 2000 by the N.C. General Assembly to help members of the tobacco community – including farmers, tobacco workers and related businesses – lessen the impact of declining tobacco production.
In creating the commission, legislators recognized the strong role that agriculture, and tobacco in particular, have historically played in the state’s economy, as well as the impact the Master Settlement Agreement has had on the agricultural economy.
NOTE TO EDITORS: A complete list of grants is attached.
Helping North Carolina's Farmers in Transition from Tobacco Production Improve Water Quality While Protecting Natural Resources for the Public
NC Foundation for Soil & Water Conservation, Inc., Raleigh
Grant Amount: $280,249. 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.
Expanding Markets and Grower Profits for Fresh NC Sweet Potatoes
North Carolina SweetPotato Commission Foundation, Inc., Smithfield
Grant Amount: $40,000. 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.
Local Market for Local Growers
City of Lexington and Lexington Farmers Market Association, Lexington
Grant Amount: $75,000. 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 educational 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.
Reducing Farm Production Costs Using Alternative Energy
N.C. Cooperative Extension Service, Graham County, Robbinsville
Grant Amount: $40,000. 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 residents in the far west region of the state to help them understand how alternative energy systems can be applied to their homes and farms.
Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Project
Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA, Pittsboro
Grant Amount: $300,000. 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.
Fair Bluff Lumber River Enhancement
Town of Fair Bluff, Fair Bluff
Grant Amount: $300,000. 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.
Project New Start: PHASE III
Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) of Wilson, Inc.
Grant Amount: $173,000. 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.
Telamon Corporation
Telamon Corporation, Raleigh
Grant Amount: $150,000. 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.
Project Skill-UP
N.C. Community College System, Raleigh
Grant Amount: $242,000. 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.
Developing Bramble Production as a Viable Farm Enterprise in NC
N.C. Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Research Stations Division, Raleigh
Grant Amount: $165,000. 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 the state and of higher quality and yield. Commercial blackberry production holds the greatest promise for N.C. 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.
College of Agriculture & Life Sciences Agricultural Leadership Development Program
N.C. Agricultural Foundation Inc., Raleigh
Grant Amount: $203,585. Project supports the 2008-2010 Ag Leadership Development Program, involving 30 farmers and agribusiness professionals ages 20 to 45 from across the state. 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.
Tobacco Growers Communication Assistance
NC Tobacco Foundation, Inc, Raleigh
Grant Amount: $65,730. 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.
Succeed!: Leadership and Production Skills for Today's Tobacco Growers
NC Tobacco Foundation, Inc., Raleigh
Grant Amount: $71,180. 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.
Strengthening the Capacity of Extension Professionals for Value-Added Agri-Business Development
N.C. Agricultural Foundation Inc., Raleigh
Grant Amount: $48,647. Project builds upon the Creating Business Opportunities 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 the state. A nationally recognized business-planning curriculum will be adapted to fit the special needs of agriculture and extension professionals.
Development of the Elaney Wood Family Heritage Farm and Alternative Agriculture Training Center
N.C. Agricultural Foundation Inc., Raleigh
Grant Amount: $121,000. 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.
Food Safety Training for Extension Agents and Produce Growers
N.C. Agricultural Foundation Inc., Raleigh
Grant Amount: $132,017. 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, best management practices, and the training of farm workers. Agents will be trained in the eight 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.
One-Stop-Shopping for Alternative Agriculture and Value-Added Enterprise Information
N.C. Agricultural Foundation Inc., Raleigh
Grant Amount: $46,366. Project expands the Value-Added and Alternative Agriculture Web site 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 agricultural enterprises. The goal is to increase farm profitability and lower costs of evaluating new enterprises for possible addition to farms.
Northwest North Carolina Sustainable Agriculture Project and the Big Chill
New River Community Partners, Jefferson
Grant Amount: $100,000. 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 through linking the organizations with refrigerated produce transportation for cross-distribution.
Environmental Stewardship Recognition Program
Durham Soil & Water Conservation District, Durham
Grant Amount: $1,665. 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 following message: "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.
Regional Agriculture Sustainability Program
BRAC Regional Task Force, Inc., Fort Bragg
Grant Amount: $203,100. Project is a collaborative effort to transition agriculture near Fort Bragg from tobacco and other traditional commodities to serve the imminent population growth of 30,000 to 40,000 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.
Occaneechi Homeland Preservation Project: Phase III
Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, Mebane
Grant Amount: $50,000. 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.
Western N.C. Agricultural Options Program
HandMade in America, Inc., Asheville
Grant Amount: $215,282. 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.
Buy Haywood-Planning for Improved Beef Processing, Marketing, and Sales
Haywood County Economic Development Commission, Waynesville
Grant Amount: $25,000. Project will conduct a feasibility study and create an implementation plan to re-establish livestock sales in the WNC region.
Building NC Agriculture with Grass-fed Beef Production and Market Access
Agribusiness Center, Mount Olive College, Mount Olive
Grant Amount: $125,000.Project will evaluate and develop a strategic initiative to build a grass-based cattle production industry in the state. 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.
Purple Sweet Potato Products Project
Creative Food Ventures/Ashe County Partnership for Children, Jefferson
Grant Amount: $26,179. 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.