Vote for agriculture in upcoming NC elections

As we look ahead at what issues will impact North Carolina’s farm families this year, the upcoming elections are front and center. There will be important elections taking place at the local, state, and national level, and we encourage everyone to understand the candidates’ views on agriculture.

Agriculture remains the largest industry in North Carolina, employing about 20 percent of the state’s workforce and providing an economic impact that exceeds $100 billion a year. That includes about 45,000 family farms.

Two of the biggest statewide races on our radar screen this year are the elections for Governor and Commissioner of Agriculture. With Gov. Roy Cooper’s eight years in office coming to an end, there is a crowded field of Republicans and Democrats vying for the state’s top job.

There are three candidates running for the Republican nomination, including Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, State Treasurer Dale Folwell, and trial lawyer Bill Graham. Graham’s law firm, you may recall, led the nuisance lawsuits against Smithfield Foods.

The Democratic field includes five candidates, led by Attorney General Josh Stein and former NC Supreme Court Justice Mike Morgan. Lesser known candidates include Chrelle Booker, Gary Foxx, and Marcus Williams. Stein has been endorsed by Gov. Cooper, former Gov. Jim Hunt, and much of the Democratic Party establishment.

Incumbent Steve Troxler, a family farmer from Browns Summit, is running for reelection as Commissioner of Agriculture. He has served in that role since 2005 and has been a strong advocate for family farmers during his tenure. Troxler has received many honors and awards during his career, including the “Order of the Golden Pig” from the NC Pork Council for his longstanding service and valuable contributions to the pork industry. 

Colby Hammonds, a family farmer who produces pasture-raised beef, pork, and free-range brown eggs in Wake County, is challenging Troxler for the Republican nomination. Dr. Sarah Taber, a farm operations specialist from Fayetteville, is the only candidate on the Democratic side. Neither Hammonds nor Taber have ever previously held elected office.

 The primary election will be held on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Early voting begins on February 15.

Beware of "Smell of Money" documentary

Documentaries are supposed to get it right, but sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they just want to push an agenda.

There’s a documentary called “The Smell of Money” that’s been making the rounds among activist groups recently. The film is an 84-minute attack on North Carolina hog farms and the family farmers who operate them.

It features all of the usual suspects—neighbors like Elsie Herring who were part of the nuisance lawsuits against Smithfield. Waterkeepers like Rick Dove and Larry Baldwin who spend their days flying over our farms. And prominent vegans like Sen. Cory Booker, who has introduced legislation to place an immediate national moratorium on large new farms.

You can learn a lot about a film by looking at the people who produced it. That’s certainly true with “The Smell of Money.” The film has deep ties to Mercy for Animals, an activist group with a stated mission to “end industrial agriculture.”

The filmmakers, Shawn Bannon and Jamie Berger, are both vegans who worked at Mercy for Animals. Actress Kate Mara, the film’s executive producer, is a vegan activist who volunteers with Mercy for Animals, PETA, and the Humane Society.

As a result, the film isn’t a true look at hog farming in North Carolina. It’s a documentary designed to drive home one overarching message: Stop Eating Meat.

Don’t spend your hard-earned money to watch this nonsense. Instead, go buy a pack of bacon and watch “Hog Farmer: The Trials of Joey Carter” on Prime Video.   

Bill Graham and a whopper of an election ad

A lot of people have been asking me lately about an election ad that Bill Graham is running nonstop on TV stations across North Carolina. Graham is a Republican candidate for Governor and a trial lawyer at Wallace & Graham, the Salisbury law firm that spearheaded the nuisance lawsuits against Murphy-Brown, Smithfield Foods, and North Carolina family farmers.

 The ad references Graham’s efforts to “stop a Chinese company from dumping toxins on North Carolina farmers.”

It appears to reference Wallace & Graham’s role in leading the nuisance suits against Smithfield. On his campaign website, Graham says he sued Smithfield on behalf of North Carolina farmers and homeowners after the company dumped toxic material on their land.

Yes, you read that correctly. He says he sued “on behalf of North Carolina farmers…”

I’m used to seeing political ads that stretch the truth, but that’s quite the whopper.

The truth is the nuisance lawsuits were initially filed against family farmers like Joey Carter in Duplin County — not on behalf of them. (Watch the Hog Farmer documentary on Prime Video to understand how the lawsuits devastated Joey and other North Carolina family farmers.) 

When out-of-state lawyers were kicked off the case for unethical behavior, Wallace & Graham re-filed the nuisance cases in federal court and went after Murphy-Brown and Smithfield. (Smithfield is owned by a publicly-traded company based in China -- but don't worry, your bacon doesn't come from China.)

When the trials began, the lawyers had to make an important choice: Were they after change in how hog farmers operate (known as “injunctive relief”) or did they want money?

Despite a lot of talk around toxins and nuisances, Wallace & Graham went for the money. And the trial lawyers didn’t hesitate to ask the jury for tens of millions of dollars.

In the end, Bill Graham and other lawyers walked away with millions of dollars. It was never about China or toxins--that’s not how our family farms operate. Graham put hard working farm families out of business while lining his pockets with money.