Most wanted: nations around the globe clamor for Tar Heel exports such as soybeans and wood products.

• Position: CASH CROP

North Carolina soybeans are special, says Charles Hall, CEO of Raleigh-based North Carolina Soybean Producers Association. "Our beans tend to be slightly higher in protein than other states' levels. Soybean protein levels drop off the farther north you go." While a large percentage of soybeans purchased by U.S. customers end up as cooking oil, biofuel and animal feed, Asian buyers are hungry for the higher-protein beans used to make tofu. Tar Heel soybeans' export value jumped to $426 million in 2012 from $248 million in 2011. That was the biggest year-to-year increase for any North Carolina agricultural product that year.

While nature makes North Carolina-grown soybeans successful, logistics doesn't hinder them. Hall says exporters and buyers for the Asian market have begun shipping them in containers rather than in a ship's hold. "With containers, the capacity is about 23 tons each, compared with entire shiploads, which can hold 50,000 tons at once." That puts idle shipping containers at East Coast ports to work, makes it easier for smaller farms to produce shipable quantities and gives customers in Asia the small batch size they want. Though about 95% of North Carolina-grown soybeans stay in the U.S., developing trade in Asia, Europe, Mexico and other places is a bonus. "We've tried to keep the business supported to make soybeans more profitable. Exporting gives farmers an additional opportunity"

Exporting always has been important to North Carolina agribusinesses. Tobacco remains the state's top export crop, with a value of $558 million in 2012. That same year, North Carolina's agriculture exports reached $3.9 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That's a 189% increase from 2005. While the amount is increasing, so is the variety.

Wood products, for instance, are right behind soybeans. Companies handling those two commodities won two out of the last three N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences' Exporter of the Year awards. Burgaw-based Rooks Farm Service Inc. won in 2011 for helping small farms harvest and export their soybean, wheat and corn crops. Thomasville-based Prime Lumber Co., which sells hardwood lumber to furniture, flooring and millwork companies, earned the distinction in 2013, when it exported 600 containers of lumber--7.8 million board feet...