| 114th Year, 41st Issue | Thursday, May 22, 2003 | Sparta, North Carolina |
The Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA (RAFI) announced several grant awards last week to area farmers for projects to replace lost tobacco income, along with a grant for an initiative to help area growers and craft makers market their products.
According to RAFI Executive Director Betty Bailey, while RAFI originated the Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Fund and its cost-share grant program in 1997, this year marked the first time the program received tobacco settlement funds from the Tobacco Trust Fund Commission. It also marked the first time the awards extended to Alleghany and Ashe counties.
Six of this year's 20 grant recipients in North Carolina are from Alleghany and Ashe. Bailey introduced those recipients during a meeting held May 16 at the Sparta Town Hall.
Of those six grants, five are for producer projects. The remaining grant is for a community project, the New River Basin Marketing Initiative. Representatives of that grant recipient, New River Community Partners (NRCP), also announced the 13 participants in that pilot program.
William Upchurch, executive director of the Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, said the fund was created in 2000, with money from the Master Settlement Agreement, finalized between tobacco companies and state attorneys general in 1998.
At about that same time, said Bailey, tobacco quotas dropped sharply.
From 1998 to 2001, tobacco companies reduced their purchases of
domestically-grown crops by 50 percent.
|
Get the rest of this article in this week's issue of the Alleghany News! Back |