The Caldwell County Nickels for Know-How Referendum will be held on Thursday, November 17, 2022.The polling place will located at the N.C. Cooperative Extension, Caldwell County Center at 120 Hospital Ave, Suite 1, Lenoir NC 28645. N.C. Cooperative Extension, Caldwell County Center Director, Seth Nagy, is facilitating the process.
Nickels for Know-How is a program created following World War II to support scientific research to improve crop production and farming methods. For this purpose, farmers and other growers of agricultural commodities voted on an assessment on themselves not to exceed five cents per ton on commercial feed and fertilizer, which is how it got its name.The referendum is being held to let users and producers of feed or fertilizer decide if they wish to continue to assess themselves an annual tax to support agricultural research and education.
The current assessment is 15 cents per hundred pounds on feed and fertilizer produced in North Carolina. A 2/3 favorable vote will mean that growers are willing to continue to assess themselves to support agricultural research and education.
The funds, about $1.4 million annually, are collected by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and then allocated by the NC Carolina Agricultural Foundation, Inc.’s 148 volunteer Board of Directors to support agricultural research and extension projects at North Carolina State University benefitting agriculture in North Carolina.
This program has been in place since 1948, and the law requires that a new referendum be held every six years.
Please call 828-757-1290 if you have any questions.
