Frank Bolick resigns after extension agent position not renewed
By Scott Nicholson

Farm agent Frank Bolick has seen a lot of changes in local agriculture after a 13-year career, and he steps down at a time of transition.

Bolick turned in his resignation to the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service after learning his position wouldn’t be renewed. Bolick focuses on tobacco, livestock, and commercial field crops, all of which have declined since Bolick started in the position. Extension service agents work under short-term contracts of between one and five years and are hired by the state, which pays 53 percent of agents’ salaries. County government pays the rest.

Bolick, who was previously self-employed after serving as a farm agent for two years in Chatham County, said the extension service is deemphasizing tobacco because of changes in the quota system. A federal buyout began last year that will remove federal price supports, and most growers contract directly with cigarette manufacturers to supply a certain number of pounds.

In the first season under the new structure, Bolick said about 50 growers grew a burley tobacco crop. “More is planted in this county than I thought there would be,” Bolick said.

“Ironically, it’s been one of the best crops we’ve had in years. Burley is in short supply (because of conditions elsewhere, particularly Brazil).”

Locally, the moist start in the spring was a cause of concern, since cool, wet weather usually heralds blue mold outbreaks. However, the dry summer and fall helped produce a good  crop and enabled it to cure well in the field.

The county had about 400 growers under the quota system. Those with quotas receive 70 cents per pound as a buyout, while growers receive 30 cents a pound. Those who grow under their own quotas receive a full $1 a pound, though many people let other growers use or lease their quota. The buyouts are distributed over a 10-year period.

Under tobacco contracts with private companies, the grower delivers a certain number of pounds in different grades, and knows ahead of time what price to expect. However, farmers can also take their chances at a tobacco auction in Asheville. Bolick believes those growers might get a better price than they would under contract, but they face more risk. Crop insurance is available to some growers but there are no more federal price guarantees.

Most buyers of local tobacco are domestic companies, but some is sold overseas, where some markets are expanding. Asians in particular are consuming more tobacco as their economy grows. American growers compete with those in Brazil, Zimbabwe, parts of Mexico and Nicaragua.

Bolick said the federal buyout and the drop in American smokers, as well as a shift in public attitudes toward tobacco, has led the state to move away from supporting it.

“The side effect is more growers are wanting to do other things, so they need more information,” Bolick said. He said as they move to other crops, they will need advice, and that’s part of the consideration in selecting a new agent.

Cooperative extension director Sue Counts said she doesn’t know what type of position will be chosen, or even if a new agent will be hired. She said the state budget cuts had caused uncertainty. Bolick also works in Avery County, and an Avery County agent works both counties as well.

Bolick believes the state will go toward organic crops and select an agent with that direction in mind. “Organic growing is coming in,” Bolick said. “It’s having a big impact, and it’s going to have a much bigger impact. We can sell all we grow.”

Livestock production, particularly that of cattle, has declined dramatically in the last quarter-century. In 1977, 15,000 calves were sold in the Boone, Jefferson and Wilkes County markets. The fact that none of those places have cattle markets now says a lot about the change in agriculture. Watauga County has only one dairy, and last year farmers sold fewer than 7,000 calves, mostly at market in Abingdon, Va.

“Another big change is the lack of youth going back into it,” Bolick said. “It’s an economic reason, and there’s a lot of gray hair in farming. Farm kids are leaving, but there are some that don’t live on a farm that would like to. A lot of farms have huge estate tax liabilities. People say farms never have to be sold because of it, but I can show you some where the family had to sell some of their land to pay it.”

Development pressures on farmland have also changed the face of agriculture, with Bolick’s own family recently selling a 59-acre property near Boone. Bolick plans to continue small-scale farming, growing hay and vegetables, and will continue to be a farm advocate.

“In a society as a whole, 2 percent is feeding the other 98 percent (of the population),” he said. “We as Americans have never known real hunger, and [government policy] is that we can buy food cheaper than we can grow it.”

Bolick is concerned that food imports could be used as a political weapon, and then it would take the country a full year to restore its food supply.

Bolick’s resignation takes effect Jan. 1. Counts said she didn’t know when a new agent would start work.

* Scott Nicholson may be contacted

at nicholson@wataugademocrat.com.