Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler sits down each week with Southern Farm Network’s Rhonda Garrison to discuss “Today’s Topic.”
Users of feed and fertilizer in North Carolina will vote at Cooperative Extension offices tomorrow on whether to continue the self-assessment of 15 cents per ton on fertilizers and animal feed produced in the state.
Known as Nickels for Know-How, the program consists of a 60-year-old voluntary assessment on feed and fertilizer produced and purchased in North Carolina. The program raises about $1.2 million each year to support agricultural research, teaching and extension projects at N.C. State University.
The NCDA&CS collects the assessment from the manufacturers of feed and fertilizer in the state. The manufacturers build the extra cost — three nickels per ton — into the price of their products. The board of the N.C. Agricultural Foundation decides how to spend the money.
There have been 13 Nickels for Know-How referenda since 1951, and all have passed with an average approval rate of 90 percent or more.
Click below to listen to Commissioner Troxler and Rhonda talk about why Nickels for Know-How is important to N.C. agriculture.
[Audio:http://info.ncagr.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Troxler_11-15.mp3 |titles=Today’s Topic for Nov. 15]
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