Golden LEAF Foundation to assist in hay transport costs
Sep 12, 2007—North Carolina is using a half-million dollar grant from a group that uses tobacco-settlement money to help farmers seeking cattle feed after the summer drought left them with virtually no crop to feed their stock.
The Golden LEAF Foundation, a nonprofit corporation, was created in 1999 to receive one-half of the funds coming to North Carolina from the master settlement agreement with cigarette manufacturers.
The Foundation helps North Carolinians make the transition from a tobacco-dependent economy through grants and investments that will positively affect the long-term economic advancement of the state. It gives priority in its grant-making to tobacco-dependent and economically distressed counties.
The Golden LEAF Foundation has used a $500,000 grant to create the Golden Hay Relief Program, which will help livestock producers pay for transportation of hay and alternative feeds – such as cornstalks and soybean hay – that was purchased in North Carolina and trucked to their farms.
The summer drought has caused an estimated $80 million loss in hay, pasture and forage in North Carolina. With no hay to feed their cattle, many fear livestock farmers will sell their herds and get out of the business.
A similar program, The Ag Partners Hay Relief Program, is providing $11,000 through donations from farm credit associations.
Golden LEAF chairman Rick Holder said the project “will benefit growers with a market for crops badly damaged from the drought and provide opportunities for North Carolina trucking operations.”
Farmers will be reimbursed a portion of their transportation costs for bringing feed from inside the state, not to exceed 50 percent.
Sep 12, 2007—North Carolina is using a half-million dollar grant from a group that uses tobacco-settlement money to help farmers seeking cattle feed after the summer drought left them with virtually no crop to feed their stock.
The Golden LEAF Foundation, a nonprofit corporation, was created in 1999 to receive one-half of the funds coming to North Carolina from the master settlement agreement with cigarette manufacturers.
The Foundation helps North Carolinians make the transition from a tobacco-dependent economy through grants and investments that will positively affect the long-term economic advancement of the state. It gives priority in its grant-making to tobacco-dependent and economically distressed counties.
The Golden LEAF Foundation has used a $500,000 grant to create the Golden Hay Relief Program, which will help livestock producers pay for transportation of hay and alternative feeds – such as cornstalks and soybean hay – that was purchased in North Carolina and trucked to their farms.
The summer drought has caused an estimated $80 million loss in hay, pasture and forage in North Carolina. With no hay to feed their cattle, many fear livestock farmers will sell their herds and get out of the business.
A similar program, The Ag Partners Hay Relief Program, is providing $11,000 through donations from farm credit associations.
Golden LEAF chairman Rick Holder said the project “will benefit growers with a market for crops badly damaged from the drought and provide opportunities for North Carolina trucking operations.”
Farmers will be reimbursed a portion of their transportation costs for bringing feed from inside the state, not to exceed 50 percent.
