The Tobacco Farm Life Museum honored David Smith, Chief Deputy Commissioner of the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, with the Excellence in Agriculture Award at the 21st Annual Breakfast with the Commissioner held at the N.C. State Fairgrounds during the Southern Farm Show.
“Over the years I have had the honor of presenting this award to dozens of leaders and visionaries. Men and women that have been the backbone of our ag industry,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “This year I have the honor to present the award to an individual that is greatly deserving and is also plays a critical role at the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.”
As Chief Deputy Commissioner, Smith is responsible for the core business functions of the department which includes the N.C. State Fair, Agricultural Statistics, Budget and Finance, Property and Construction, Internal Audit, Farmland Preservation, Internet Technology, Human Resources, and Legislative Liaison.
Smith has worked for the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for more than 53 years making him the official institutional memory of the Department. He remembers Hurricanes Fran and Floyd and other storms that have so greatly impacted the industry over the years. He’s been through droughts, fires, floods. Smith has literally seen it all.
With the appropriation of funds to assist farmers following Hurricane Helene and other statewide crop disasters in 2024, Smith was tasked with leading the Department’s disaster relief efforts. The relief program will be on going for many months because, in addition to the state funds, the USDA has awarded the Department a Block Grant to assist farmers in the Helene-damaged counties with payments not covered by traditional USDA programs. Smith will also be heading up the effort to distribute federal funding.
“This relief program is the largest ever undertaken by the department, far surpassing Hurricane Florence is size and scope,” said Troxler. “Farmers in all 100 counties have received payments from the $448 million state disaster assistance fund.”
Smith and the Ag Disaster Assistance team are still in the process of sending out state disbursements and expect to begin work on the $221 million block grant program.
He was raised on a tobacco farm near McGee’s Crossroads in Johnston County. It was a typical tobacco farm for that time of tobacco farming. Four primers, tractor drivers, handers and loopers. At the end of the day, the tobacco was hung in a barn for curing. The process was a week after week process until the crop was harvested and sold. The highlight of the process was going to the tobacco market for the traditional chant of the auctioneer. At least that was the highlight for any younger person, not immediately involved in the hard reality of the sale price offered by the buyers.
After graduating from N.C. State University in 1972 with a degree in Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Smith began his career with the Department in August 1972 as a staff engineer in the Engineering Section of the Marketing Division. Now that section has transitioned to a whole separate Division—Property and Construction. In 1976, he was appointed to head the LP-Gas Inspection section in the Standards Division. In 1979, he was named the director of the Standards Division. In January 2001, he was appointed Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture and in 2004, he was appointed Chief Deputy Commissioner, his current position.
“David’s work in Agriculture has made him an invaluable resource to the department, other state agencies, industry, academic leaders and farmers,” said Troxler. “I know that over the years many of you have worked with him on projects and would agree that he is irreplaceable.”
The breakfast also recognized Frank Scott of Scott Brothers Farm in Kenly with the Innovation Young Farmer of the Year award. Both awards are sponsored by Farm Credit Associations of North Carolina.
The Tobacco Farm Life Museum is located in Kenly. The museum interprets agricultural history, tobacco labor and industry, and the lives of farming families in eastern North Carolina from 1900 to 1950. The museum encompasses a 6,000-square-foot exhibit and teaching space, numerous outbuildings, and a green space. Featured exhibits include soil conservation, rural medicine, education, textiles, early transportation, and more.