This year in NC we not only get to vote for president, but we are also choosing our Commissioner of Agriculture. The race is between the incumbent, who along with his position as Commissioner currently produces wheat, soybeans and sweet potatoes, and his opponent, a lawyer with little experience on a farm.

In The Washington Daily News this past week the Commissioner's opponent was reported discussing his trip across the state speaking with farmers on their own turf. He said that when he asked them what needed to be done in agriculture, they all said that family farms needed to be protected. He stated that he believes that the future of farming in NC is in biofuels production. He says this can be done on small family farms and larger corporate farms and will help create jobs and revitalize the state's economy.

The incumbent has helped develop a farmland preservation fund to stop the loss of farmland, has worked to create an improved food safety program, has expanded international and local trade, and launched a marketing campaign that has opened doors for the sale of NC produce in large grocery chains and restaurants. These are actual accomplishments of this Commissioner's tenure.

I'm certainly not sure what the right answers to NC's agricultural challenges are. However, if we elect people to positions in Agriculture with little experience in the "field" it would only seem to me that representing the best interests of producers would be a thing of the past. How can one make decisions about agriculture without having ever worked in it? Regrettably, being a couple of generations removed from the farm, we see the not so good impression that Americans, as a whole, have of agriculture. When those in leadership and decision making positions are not from an agricultural background, would not their lack of understanding prevent sound policies from being enforced? Something else to think about before the big election...