North Carolina tobacco growers will have a chance Nov. 6 to vote on whether to continue a "check-off" system that provides funding for tobacco research.
The first Thursday in November has been selected as the date for a referendum on a program that provides funding for tobacco research. Tobacco growers first approved the check-off system in a 1991 referendum. Growers assess themselves 10 cents per 100 pounds of tobacco produced and sold in North Carolina. The assessment provides approximately $500,000 annually for tobacco research.
A Tobacco Research Commission, created by the North Carolina General Assembly when it authorized the check-off system, directs expenditures of the funding. North Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Jim Graham is chairman of the commission.
Growers must vote every six years on continuing the system. Both burley and flue-cured tobacco growers are eligible to vote in the Nov. 6 referendum. Polling places will be announced in each county prior to the referendum. Two-thirds of the growers voting must approve the check-off system if it is to continue for another six years.
Robert Jenkins, president of the Farm Bureau Federation of North Carolina and a member of the Tobacco Research Commission, urged growers to take time to vote in the referendum. Jenkins pointed out that funding for tobacco-related research has dwindled in recent years, and the check-off system is one of the few remaining funding sources for tobacco research.
The assessment costs both burley and flue-cured tobacco growers about $2.50 per acre. Money is collected at warehouses by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture. Growers who do not wish to participate may request a refund.
Much of the funding collected has gone to support research at North Carolina State University. Check-off funding has, for example, supported the development of new tobacco varieties with attributes such as high yield and disease and pest resistance.
Research focusing on new baling technology, which reduces handling costs, and no-till tobacco, which reduces soil erosion, has also received funding. Funding has gone to researchers working to develop mechanical harvesting aids that reduce labor. And the development of a system that warns growers when outbreaks of blue mold disease are likely has received funding.
Information about the Nov. 6 referendum is available through county centers of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.