I have used this column several times in the past to share information with you about many of the farm activities that take place in the county and about many of the crops and animals that are produced in the county.

If you are directly involved in agriculture as a farmer or farmworker or if you work for a business that provides products or services to farmers, you already know just how important agriculture is to our local economy. But since less than six percent of the people who live in this county are directly involved in agriculture, the chances are pretty good that you are part of the majority of our citizens who have little knowledge of production agriculture. Even if you live in the rural areas of the county and travel by farms every day as you go to town to work or shop, more than likely you give little thought to what is happening on the farms and the significance of those farms to our local economy.

My agricultural agents and I have recently completed our estimates of the value of agricultural products produced in the county during this past production year and other income received by our farmers. You might be surprised to learn that the total value for last year was $293 million.

Until the early 1990s, crops were the major commodities produced in the county, and tobacco accounted for the vast majority of this value. But things have changed drastically since then.

Today, livestock and poultry are the major commodities in this county, and the value of the tobacco that is now produced is less than one-third what it was in the early 1990s. Except for poultry, there has been little change in the type of crops and animals grown over the years, but the value of those commodities has changed drastically.

The value of crops produced in the county last year was approximately $72 million. Tobacco remained the leading row crop with a value of $19.6 million, followed closely by soybeans, cotton, and corn. Tobacco acres dropped from over 15,000 in the early 1990s to less than around 5,600 last year.

Robeson County is the largest crops-producing county in the state, with over 240,000 acres of croplands. We rank first in the state in the production of soybeans and wheat; third in the state in the production of tobacco, corn, and oats; and ninth in the state in production of cotton.

What has changed drastically in Robeson County is contract animal production. As recently as 1990, independent hog production accounted for virtually all of the commercial livestock production, with a value of approximately $13 million. Today, there are very few independent hog producers. Virtually all of the hogs now grown in the county are grown under contract with major hog companies. The value of hogs produced in the county last year exceeded $35.4 million.

In the early 1990s, the only chickens grown in Robeson County were backyard flocks. Many rural families had flocks of chickens in their backyards, primarily for eggs for the family and for sale and for meat for the family table. Today, very few people have flocks of chickens in their backyards, but the countryside is full of contract chicken houses. These houses contain broilers, produced primarily for Mountaire Farms and Perdue, with a value of over $121.5 million. In addition, over $11 million of turkeys are produced under contract as well.

Robeson County ranks sixth in the state in the production of hogs; twelfth in the state in the production of broilers; and thirteenth in the state in the production of turkeys. Beef cattle, horses, and meat goats make up the remainder of over $171 million worth of livestock produced in the county.

Although fruits and vegetables provide significant income for many farmers in the county, the value of all fruits and vegetables is rather small as compared to row crops and animal agriculture. The value of all fruits and vegetable produced in the county was approximately $3.4 million. In addition, $1.4 million worth of flowers, shrubs, trees, and greenhouse crops were produced.

Few people realize that trees and forest products are a major part of agricultural production in Robeson County. There are over 325,000 acres of forests in this county, much of which is managed for timber production. Trees are like any other crop. They are planted, managed until mature, harvested, and then replanted. Last year, almost $17.4 million worth of trees were harvested from the forest in this county.

Each year, various government payments to farmers and landowners contribute to the total value or income generated in the county. Last year, over $8.7 million of government payments were received. Some people have very negative comments about government payments for farmers, but these people usually do not know the full implications of the provision in the Farm Bill that provides these payments. They also fail to realize that these payments ultimately benefit consumers much more than they benefit farmers. But that is a topic I need to address in another column.

A significant factor in the estimates for 2005 was the Tobacco Transition Program Payments, better know as the tobacco buyout. Quota owners in Robeson County received more than $18.9 million in buyout payments last year.

More than 8,000 of our citizens, farmers and their families, live on farms and derive their income from the production of crops and animals. An additional 4,000 work full-time, and approximately 6,000 work seasonally on our local farms. Income and wages earned are spent throughout our communities, just as with the workers of our major industries and businesses.

We become very upset when one of our major industries closes its doors or reduces its workforce. We have headline news when we lose 100 jobs, and payroll is reduced by a couple of million dollars. Whether we realize it or not, we have the same affect when we have bad weather, low commodity prices, or drastically higher production costs. Our farmworkers lose jobs, and farm payrolls are reduced.

This is just a quick overview of just how important agriculture is to our local economy. I hope this gives you a little greater appreciation for the value of agriculture in Robeson county.

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 06/26/06