FINDINGS - AGRICULTURE 



1 . Adequate financing continues to be a serious problem 

 for many farmers. Almost 20% of North Carolina 

 farmers have debt-to-asset ratios above 70% with at 

 least 4% of these farmers being technically 

 insol^'ent. The usual governmental and private 

 sources of farm financing are drying up and many 

 farmers cannot find adequate financing. 



2. A changing and rapidly diversifying agricultural 

 economy has created new challenges and opportunities 

 to expand existing markets or develop new markets for 

 North Carolina agricultural products. 



3. More agricultural processing and canning facilities 

 are needed to process the agricultural products 

 produced by North Carolina. 



4. The ever changing status of agricultural technology 

 requires constant public support for agricultural 

 field research to assist farmers in improving net 

 farm income and providing auality products for 

 consumers . 



5. The orderly implementation of multidisciplinary pest 

 control programs including both the use of biological 

 control and pesticides is in the best interest of the 

 environmental agricultural production because the 

 impact of pesticides on the environment is a growing 

 interest and the use of chemical pesticides is one of 



