Growing farmers: agencies across the Tar Heel state look for ways to get younger people interested in farming as the population gets older.

• Position: SPONSORED SECTION: CASH CROP

Larry Wooten, president of the state's biggest agricultural-advocacy group, took a bus trip to Washington, D.C., in February with 40 other North Carolinians to discuss farm-related issues with state congressional members. The board members of the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation Inc. spent a week talking with political leaders about a variety of topics, including genetically modified crops, rural development and immigration reform. The effort is an example of how the robust health of North Carolina's agricultural industry is the product of hard work and planning by a wide variety of people and institutions, both large and small, that promote farming as an essential facet of the state's economic mix.

The Farm Bureau is a private, nonprofit organization that has been advocating for farmers since 1936. Its membership includes more than 525,000 people, some of whom work in agricultural jobs and others who belong through their ownership of the groups insurance policies. Each North Carolina county has about 12 board members to direct the bureau's work. "We rely on those farmer members at the county level to determine the policies that we will advocate for as a statewide organization," Wooten says. Raised in southeastern North Carolina, he farmed full time before joining the bureau as assistant to the president in 1994. He was elected president in December 1999.

When Wooten began his tenure, the organization dealt mainly with issues specific to commodities including pork, poultry and various crops. Over the years, larger issues have emerged that broadened its focus. For example, the organization now invests much of its time and money in leadership development for members. "Leadership is one commodity that is never in oversupply," Wooten says. "For an organization to continue to be successful and relevant and not become a dinosaur, you have to invest in leadership."

Part of that leadership training involves teaching farmers how to become advocates for the agriculture industry. As the demographics of North Carolina and the U.S. change, fewer people with agriculture ties serve in the legislature or on county and city boards. It is up to farmers, agribusinesses and nonprofit agencies to educate lawmakers about issues facing the industry, including the impact of legislation, says Sandy Maddox, director of the Lois G. Britt Agribusiness Center at University of Mount Olive. Fewer than 10 of the 170 state senators and representatives in the North...