ASHEBORO — The Randolph County Tobacco Research Referendum will be held on Thursday, November 18, 2021, from 8:30am to noon. Blake Szilvay, County Referendum Chairman, said one polling place has been established in Randolph County at the Randolph County Extension Office located at 1003 S. Fayetteville Street, Asheboro.
The referendum lets tobacco growers vote on whether they desire to continue the self-assessment program that funds research and extension projects at the Tobacco Research Commission housed at NC State University. This program has been in place since 1991, and the law requires that a new referendum be held every six years.
A two-thirds favorable vote will mean that growers are willing to continue to assess themselves to support tobacco research and education. The assessment is ten cents per hundred pounds of tobacco produced in North Carolina.
The funds, about $250,000 annually, are collected at buying stations by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and then allocated by the Tobacco Research Commission.
For more information, please call your County Extension Office at: 336-318-6004.
