(The Center Square) – Agriculture, North Carolina’s No. 1 industry forever, topped $111.1 billion in economic impact in 2024.
North Carolina is No. 1 nationally in the production of sweet potatoes, tobacco, and poultry and eggs; No. 2 in Christmas trees, turkeys, and trout; No. 3 in hogs and cucumbers; No. 4 in peanuts and broilers (chickens); and No. 5 in cotton. It is top 10 in 20 different commodities, according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said the state has experienced $18 billion in growth since coming out of the COVID-19 era in 2022 during what he described as “challenging times.”
Christmas trees
Hurricane Helene threatened but did not crash the state’s Christmas tree industry.
Flooding in fields and damage to seedlings and nurseries came from the September catastrophe in the mountains. Among the bigger challenges, however, were simply getting road access. The state, at times, had more than 600 closures because of the storm.
Carrie McClain, CEO of Hart-T-Tree Farms in Ashe County, told The Center Square the hardest hit regions were Avery County and south as well as the western edges of Watauga and Ashe.
Weather
Weeks with no rain. Weeks with rain. The summer was two months of ultimate challenge.
North Carolina’ drought on July 9 – 88% of the state with about 20% suffering severe to extreme conditions – changed six weeks later to drought free and just abnormally dry in a number of western counties. The state got anywhere from 10 to 20 inches of rain from what was left of Hurricane Debby, followed by a front.
Leadership
Elections, as has been the case for two decades, didn’t change leadership in North Carolina. Troxler won his sixth term in November.
There is new direction at the federal level, with Donald Trump’s return to office meaning a new leader for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Brooke Rollins has been welcomed by congressmen from the state, and industry leaders.
Matt Grissom, president of the Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina, hopes Rollins will visit at planting and harvest in her first year. Concerns on his and tobacco farmers’ minds include adverse impacts related to export if there is a retaliation on trade tariffs, “flaws we are incumbered by regarding the H2A Adverse Effect Wage Rate,” and feasibility of eliminating the wage survey “as the litmus for determining the AERW.”
