FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 10, 2007

N.C. Farm Bureau Insurance donates $10,000
to help drought-stricken N.C. farmers

RALEIGH – N.C. Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. has donated $10,000 to help North Carolina livestock owners cope with a massive hay shortage, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler announced today.

The funding will assist programs established by the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to help livestock owners defray a portion of the cost of transporting hay to their farms.

“The North Carolina Farm Bureau has once again demonstrated their commitment to our farmers by helping them with the cost of feeding animals,” Troxler said. “Their help is greatly needed and greatly appreciated.”

N.C. Farm Bureau President Larry Wooten said the drought is having a tremendous impact on the state’s people and agricultural industry. “This is especially true for the livestock industry,” he said. “There is — and will be — huge shortages of forage feeds to get cattle, horses, sheep and goats through the winter. In that respect, NCDA&CS requested funds to aid in the transportation of hay — both from within and outside the state — to our producers in North Carolina.

“North Carolina Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company is proud to contribute $10,000 to this statewide effort to help our producers,” Wooten said. “This donation demonstrates our company’s strong recognition of the needs of the people of our state and our willingness to address those needs, as a major corporate player in North Carolina.”

Reports from farmers indicate that the state’s hay shortage could be as high as 800,000 round bales, forcing them to seek other options for feeding livestock through the winter. Farmers whose corn and soybean crops were damaged by the drought have offered to help livestock producers by baling and selling their crops for animal feed.

The department is trying to help farmers connect with one another through the Hay Alert Web site, which allows farmers to place free listings seeking or selling hay. It also has a section for finding or offering hay transportation services. The site is available at www.ncagr.com/HayAlert. Listings are searchable by county, state and forage type.

Farmers also can use the Hay Alert service by calling toll free at 1-866-506-6222 weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Operators will take callers’ information and add it to the Web site or search the database for them.

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