Students, faculty, policy experts and a small farmer gathered online Sept. 23 to discuss and learn about how the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services helps the state’s small farmers connect to grants and programs.

It was the second in a series of Ag and Policy Issues forums, sponsored by the CAES student organizations featuring Steve Troxler, North Carolina commissioner of agriculture and moderated by Antoine Alston, Ph.D., associate dean for academic studies.

Agriculture is the largest industry in North Carolina, which, nonetheless, is a small farm state, where nearly half of its 46,000 farms have fewer than 50 acres, Troxler said.  Outreach to spur new avenues of profit for small farms is therefore important to NCDA&CS, he said, as he introduced Archie Hart, special assistant to the commissioner.

Hart explained his role is to insure small farmers know how to connect to the myriad federal, state and local programs that help farm businesses become productive and profitable.

“A lot of times when they go to the local offices, they don’t get the understanding of programs and how they complement each other and interrelate,” he said. His office helps overcome the department “silo-ing” that tends to discourage small and new farmers from gaining access to grants and programs, he said.

His remarks were echoed by Sam Crisp, a small farmer from Caswell County, who started farming 10 years ago. Crisp described his diversified farm and efforts to organize an egg cooperative.

“I could not have done this without Archie’s group,” he said.

Troxler urged attendees to reach out to representatives in the General Assembly and ask they lower the income threshold to qualify for sales tax exemption on farm supplies and equipment. The state allows the exemption for farms grossing an average of at least $10 thousand a year. Often small farms struggle to meet that threshold, he said.

The forum also featured a video by A&T journalism and mass communication major Adrieanna Thacker in which fellow Aggie students Leah Freeman, Jaden Goodman, Taylor Peele and Joial Silver described their summer internships at the research farms the agency operates around the state.

“We are always interested in having interns, but I have to warn you: once you come to the research farms, you get hooked,” Troxler said. “Many N.C. A&T students have come through our program over the years and they always do very well.”

Troxler urged the interns and other students tuning into the forum to consider applying for jobs with the agency after graduation. The agency employs 2,000 people, and is always on the lookout for the “best of the best,” he said.