The Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA (RAFI-USA) recently selected 15 North Carolina farmers and farmer groups to receive cost-share support from the 2007 Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Fund. 

The Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Fund was created to assist North Carolina farmers and communities who were negatively impacted by the decline in tobacco to put their own ideas to work to replace lost tobacco income.  Supported by a grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation, the Reinvestment Fund offers cost-share support of up to $10,000 for individual producers and up to $18,000 for collaborative projects.  

Eddie Moore, a Robeson County farmer, will use his award to help develop a marketing campaign for his branded beef product - Moore Brothers Beef.  The campaign will seek to identify new, local markets for the beef.  "My earliest memories are of the tobacco barn, and we are not growing any tobacco this year for the first time," said Moore.  "I think the beef is a direction that we can go to try to replace some of that income." 

The 2007 Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Fund Demonstration awards include:

-Fuel Alternative for Farm Use, Philip Renard Barker, Granville County

-Creating Value-added Products by Dehydration, Doreathy Booth, Granville County

-North Star Farmers' Market, Harden and Justin Brown, Rockingham County

-Hog Farming: From the Pasture to the Table, John Council, Hoke County

-Creating a Roadside Market, Lock Dial, Robeson County

-Automatic Watering System, Tammy French, Rockingham County

-Processing Facility, Sheila Garner, Cartaret County

-Harvest Moon Farms Expansion Project, Herbert W. Griffin, Jones County

-Increasing Farm Diversity, Burnell and Henry Ivey, Robeson County

-CHS Tack and Supply, Carole B. Moore, Rockingham County

-Moore Brothers Beef Regional Marketing Campaign, Eddie Moore, Robeson County

-Strawberry and Farm Market Building, Jimmy and Mitzi Powers, Robeson County

-Scott Farm Organics, Trent Scott, Jones County

-Shared Equipment Use and Training, Stokes County Growers Cooperative, Stokes County

-Developing Infrastructure and Markets, Prize of the Harvest, Granville County

RAFI-USA is a private, non-profit organization located in Pittsboro, North Carolina dedicated to equity, diversity, and sustainability in agriculture.  The Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Fund is supported by a grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation.