Increased yield.

• Position: CASH CROP - Agriculture - Brief article

Agriculture is North Carolina's largest industry--generating $77 billion for the Tar Heel economy in 2012--and it helped the state ride out the recession, says Herb Vanderberry, an economist with Raleigh-based North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation Inc. "It's a good thing we have it. Agriculture continues to provide consistent contributions': But like a farmer's work, Tar Heel agribusinesses' chores are never done.

"Farming is a difficult occupation with a lot of variables that many businessmen and-women don't have to face," says Peter Daniel, assistant to the Farm Bureau president. N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler says challenges include more regulations and less water and farmland. The state lost more than 10% of its farmland from...