Helping farmers affected by Helene the top issue in agriculture commissioners race

After hurricane Helene left much of western North Carolina devasted aiding farmers impacted by the storm has become the key issue in the race for North Carolina Agriculture Commissioner.

"Agriculture there is totally devasted," said Steve Troxler, the Republican incumbent. "In most current cases the crops are washed away, ... we've got fences gone, hay gone, animals that are going to have to be gotten back into pastures. We've got infrastructure gone. So, right now if we are not successful in having a very good federal and state disaster program there are a lot of people that won't be able to farm next year."

Similarly, Troxler's Democratic challenger Sarah Taber cited disaster response as her top priority.

"Storm recovery takes years. We need leadership with the attention span to finish the job," Taber said. "For Agriculture, immediate needs also include safe livestock disposal, food safety inspections for affected produce, and other industry-specific cleanup. But there's still lots to do after the TV cameras leave. I learned this the hard way, by being hit by 3 hurricanes in the last 8 years."

Troxler, who is a farmer, and Taber, an agriculture consultant that works with farmers, both know firsthand how hard it is to recover in the aftermath of a natural disaster. They both said this this isn't the first time disaster relief has been the hot button issue within farm communities in North Carolina.

In 2018, when Hurricane Florence hit North Carolina according to a report from the state auditor's office as of June 30, 2023, a total of $773,599,672 in aid had been disbursed by state agencies to address the disaster, with $261,044,511 being disbursed by the Department of Agriculture to aid farmers.

Then in 2021 when tropical storm Fred hit western North Carolina the state budget allocated 50 million to the Department of Agriculture as part of the Crop Loss Program.

Troxler said similar efforts would need to be initiated to make sure farmers in western North Carolina could recover from Helene.

"Some of the same areas that we just got back on their feet are washed away again," Troxler said.

Aside from disaster recovery minimizing the loss of farmland across the state is also a key issue for both candidates.

Even before Hurricane Helene studies show North Carolina has consistently been losing farmlands over the last decade.

Troxler said farm preservation is an issue he's been working on improving his entire career as Agriculture Commissioner helping to develop the agriculture development and farmland preservation trust fund in 2005 after being elected.

"Since that time, we have spent about 108 million protecting farmland through permanent easements," Troxler said.

He said more work was needed however to protect farms and cited a program recently started in Wake County he could see expanding.

"Wake County has come up with an innovative program that if you have your land in present use value, which is a farm, you get a break on property taxes," Troxler said.

Under the program, if farmers in Wake County sell their farms to developers, they would have to pay the difference between higher tax rate on businesses and the reduced rate for farms. That money is then in turn put towards a fund to protect farmland in the county.

From Taber's point of view the best way to preserve farmland is to make farming a more profitable industry throughout the state.

"Our farmers make as little as half as much per acre as growers in Georgia or Virginia," Taber said. "Farmers sell their land to developers because they can't afford to stay in business anymore — and developers are the only ones who can afford the high cost of farmland."

Taber said the best way to grow agribusiness revenue was to push more farmers to produce more crops with higher profitability like strawberries and tomatoes instead of sweet potatoes and tobacco which historically North Carolina has been one of the top producers of.

"When it comes to keeping farms in business, the best defense is a good offense," Taber said. "Let's get farms making more money."

Troxler said North Carolina had one of the most diverse agribusiness economies in the country and pushed back on the idea that growing farmers profits was simply a matter of persuading them to produce different crops.

He said many of the crops that have the highest profit potential are also the riskiest to grow, and at the state level there currently isn't a risk management program for farmers looking to try something new.

He also said the Department of Agriculture does extensive research on crops to assess their profit potential, cost of production, and risk, so farmers can make informed decisions on what they want to grow.

"We try to make the mistakes before a farmer has to do it himself," Troxler said. "We're always looking for the next magic bullet, and you know, we find them sometimes, but sometimes we say this aint gonna work."

Taber said many of key cash crops for North Carolina already present similar risk to crops with higher profit potentials that aren't grown as commonly.

"I'll tell people, hey, you know strawberries and tomatoes will make $40,000 an acre, and they'll say, 'what about labor,' and I'll say what about labor," Taber said. "Tobacco takes hand labor too, and it hasn't stopped anybody from growing it, but you make less money growing tobacco."

Finally running third party in the N.C. Agriculture Commissioner

Also vying to be the state's next agriculture commissioner is Libertarian Sean Haugh.

"I'm running on a single issue of legalizing marijuana now," Haugh said.

Haugh has formerly run for U.S. Senate as a Libertarian in 2014 losing to Republican Thom Tillis and then again in 2016 losing to another Republican, Richard Burr. He has also unsuccessfully run for N.C. House District 31 in 2020 and 2022.

Sean Haugh

Age: 63

Job: Retired

Education: studied English at Tufts University, did not finish

Political experience: Ran for U.S. Senate in 2014, and 2016; Ran for N.C. House District 31 in 2020 and 2022

Top priority: Legalizing marijuana in North Carolina

Sarah Taber

Age: 41

Job: Agricultural Consultant

Education: B.S in soil science from Brigham Young University; Doctorate in plant medicine from University of Florida

Political Experience: None

Top priority: Disaster relief for farmers affected by Hurricane Helene

Steve Troxler

Age: 72

Job: Farmer

Education: B.S. in conservation from N.C. State University

Political Experience: N.C. Agriculture Commissioner from 2004-present

Top priority: Disaster relief for farmers affected by Hurricane Helene

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