Farmer caring for crop (Image used under license from Shutterstock.com)
Anthony DeHart
Shawn Harding, president of the North Carolina Farm Bureau, was the guest on this week’s edition of ‘Carolina Newsmakers’ with Don Curtis, where he discussed the state of Agriculture in North Carolina.
Amid a rapidly changing economic landscape, with the decline of traditional industries like cigarette manufacturing, agriculture remains a vital part of the state’s economy. Harding says this enduring success is a testament to farmers’ adaptability.
“It really, I think speaks to our resiliency, with our farmers to say, ‘we’re gonna have to adapt’. We have to change with the times, and do something different but still be in agriculture,” Harding said.
Harding said that one ongoing challenge is to find people to fill jobs on the farm in a tight labor market. He says the problem is about more than just finding people to help harvest crops.
“One of the problems farmers are having now is getting people to fix equipment,” Harding said. “It’s just a real gap.”
One issue, according to Harding, is that farm equipment has become incredibly complex in recent years.
“I think our technology has gotten ahead of us in some ways,” Harding said. “This is very sophisticated equipment on farms now with GPS, and even some driverless tractors and things like that.”
Harding said that for farmers who rely on this equipment, the stakes are high.
“…one fuse goes down, or one simple electronic part goes down, [and] it can just stop you in your tracks,” Harding said.
Harding says he hopes that community colleges in the state will develop more ways to train people to repair tractors and other farm equipment.
“It’s become quite a problem,” Harding said, “and we’ve certainly talked to the manufacturers. We’ve talked to our community colleges about this problem, and I’m hoping we can get some help, but we need young people who want to fix tractors.”
You can listen to the full conversation here, or listen to the latest episodes of “Carolina Newsmakers” with Don Curtis here.