Volume 21 | Issue 13
Six individuals honored at awards ceremony
RALEIGH – Six individuals were honored at our awards luncheon as part of the North Carolina Pork Council’s annual conference. Ed Emory, retired director of the Duplin County Cooperative Extension and chair of the NC Pork Council awards committee, presented the awards along with NCPC President Lorenda Overman.

Election ballots heading to voters in Districts 1, 2 & 4
Watch your mailbox if you live in Districts 1, 2 or 4 for your board of elections ballot. Please fill it out and mail it back by December 31.

Only voting members (anyone actively involved in a pork production company) will receive ballots. If you do not receive one, please contact Terri Smith at terri@ncpork.org.

Thank you!
NC Pork Council seeking nominations for next class of award winners
The 2022 awards ceremony will take place at the 2022 Annual Conference on March 3 in Raleigh.

Nominations for 2022 awards are now open:
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Order from the Pork Store by Dec. 8 for Christmas delivery!
Year-end OIC education opportunities
Tuesday, December 7, 9am-4pm OR Friday, December 17, 9am-4pm
The agenda will be the same at both in-person trainings at the Lois G. Britt Agricultural Center in Kenansville 6 hours of animal waste AND 6 hours of waste water credit has been approved. Lunch will be on your own, there is no cost to attend the class. Call Duplin County extension to sign up: 910-296-2143.

Tuesday, December 14, 9 am - 4 pm: N.C. Cooperative Extension, Sampson County Center, 93 Agriculture Place (in the livestock arena), Clinton NC 28328 Call 910-592-7161 to preregister for the event. 6 hours of CAWO continuing ed credits available.
USDA to measure financial well-being of North Carolina farmers and ranchers
Beginning in late December, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will spend several months gathering information about farm economics and production practices from farmers and ranchers across NC, as the agency conducts the third and final phase of the 2021 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS). To protect the health of producers, partners and employees, NASS is unable to work with you in person to complete this survey. 
 
“ARMS is the only survey that measures the current financial well-being of NC producers and their households as a whole,” said Dee Webb, NC Field Office Statistician. “The results of this survey will help inform decisions on local and federal policies and programs that affect NC farms and farm families.” 
 
In an effort to obtain the most accurate data, NASS will reach out to more than 30,000 producers nationwide, including 1,400 in NC between January and March. The survey asks producers to provide in-depth information about their operating revenues, production costs, and household characteristics. The 2021 ARMS survey includes a version of the questionnaire focused on farm costs and returns for standard and organic dairy, corn, and rice. This year the survey also includes questions to help measure any impacts of COVID-19 on farms, farm and household finances, and off-farm employment. 
 
“In February, our interviewers will begin reaching out to those farmers who have not yet responded,” said Webb “We appreciate their time and are here to help them with the questionnaire so that their information will continue supporting sound agricultural decision-making.” 
 
In addition to producing accurate information, NASS has strong safeguards in place to protect the confidentiality of all farmers who respond to its surveys. The agency will only publish data in an aggregate form, ensuring the confidentiality of all responses and that no individual respondent or operation can be identified.  
 
The expense data gathered in ARMS will be published in the annual Farm Production Expenditures report on July 29, 2022. That report and others are available at nass.usda.gov/Publications. More reports based on ARMS data and more information about ARMS are available at ers.usda.gov/arms.