The Tobacco Research Referendum vote is coming up on November 19, 2009.    The Cooperative Extension office located at 123 Caroline Street, Rockingham will be the sole poling location in the county for this vote on November 19.  The referendum is being held to let tobacco growers decide if they wish to continue the self-assessment program.  This program has been in place since 1991, and the law requires that a new referendum be held every six years.

A 2/3 favorable vote will mean that growers are willing to continue to assess themselves to support tobacco research and education.  The assessment is ten cents per hundred pounds of tobacco produced in North Carolina.

The money, about $300,000 annually, is collected at buying stations by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, allocated by the Tobacco Research Commission to research and extension projects for tobacco at NC State University.
For more information on the referendum and to learn of projects funded by the check-off, please go to:
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/advancement/09TobaccoReferendum.htm