Agri-Industry & Food Processing

Southeastern North Carolina has more than 20,000 people employed with food processing companies. Example of products made/grown here include pork, poultry, sauces, food/drink ingredients, value-added sweet potato products, peanuts, soybean oil, grapes, tobacco, and barbeque. The region has several of the top farm income producing counties in the nation. The region has long been known for its productive land and innovative agricultural companies and farms. Wineries and vineyards are a growth sector in the region, due to the area’s fertile loamy soils that are ideal for grapes, as well as blueberries. North Carolina annually exports more than $2 billion of agricultural products – transportation access is made easy by the Port at Wilmington and interstate highways.

Agri-Industry and Food Processing Assets

Not only is agriculture a basic component of the history of NC’s Southeast Region, it is still a dominant industry today.  But today, it is the basis of a vertically integrated sector that starts with crops and animals and moves up the food chain to include the production of chemical ingredients, fertilizers, processed foods and biofuels.  And because of the nearby Wilmington Port, it is also a significant generator of exports for the State and US.

Agricultural Production

North Carolina is a leader in agricultural production.  The State ranks #1 in the nation for production of sweet potatoes and tobacco, #2 in Christmas trees, hogs / pigs, and turkeys, and #3 in cucumbers and foodsize trout.  Likewise, NC is also a leader in food processing.  (NCDA Ag Statistics)

NC’s Southeast Region is a major reason the state ranks so high in so many commodities. 

For 2007, the Region produced:

  • 1.23 million acres in croplands
  • Total cash receipts of $2.26 billion dollars in the 11-county region.  (NCDA Ag Statistics)
  • Several of the Region’s counties ranked in the top five statewide in certain commodity production (2008)
  • Sampson County:
  • # 1 for sweet potatoes  (1,480,000 hundredweight)
  • #1  for flue-cured tobacco (25,553,000 pounds)
  • #2  for oats (132,300 bushels)
  • #2 for hogs (2,000,000)
  • #2 for turkeys (10,381,000)
  • #4 for soybeans (2,126,000 bushels)
  • Bladen County :
  • #3 for peanuts (25,600,000 pounds)
  • #3 in hogs (820,000)
  • Robeson County:
  • #1 in corn for grain (3,690,000 bushels)
  • #1 in soybeans (3,370,000 bushels)
  • #2 in wheat (2,746,000 bushels)
  • #3 in oats (112,700 bushels)
  • #4 in broiler production (40,000,000)
  • #5 in hogs (409,000)
  • Pender County:
    • #2 in berries (1,981 acres)
  • Columbus County:
    • #2 in bees (1,965 colonies)
    • #5 in corn (38,489 acres)
  • Richmond County:
    • #1 in pheasants
    • #4 in quail
    • #5 in rye for grain (683 acres)

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NORTH CAROLINA'S SOUTHEAST
The Regional Economic Development Marketing Organization For Southeastern North Carolina
707 West Broad Street, P.O. Box 2556, Elizabethtown, NC 28337
Phone: 800-787-1333 Fax: 910-862-1482
 
 
 
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