Rain, politics and scandal kept cropping up last year.

• Position: Agriculture

Sensational headlines dominated state agriculture news in 2003, and a soggy spring and Hurricane Isabel damaged crops. But the three biggest contributors to the agriculture economy created barely a ripple, proving that no news is indeed good news.

Hogs, broilers and greenhouse and nursery products accounted for 54.7% of North Carolina farm income in the year before last. And while 2003's figures won't be released until spring, all three segments were expected to top 2002 in production and cash receipts, says Bob Murphy, a statistician at the N.C. Department of Agriculture. Hog and broiler cash receipts for 2002 were $1.4 billion each; greenhouse and nursery products, $841 million. "Greenhouse and nursery production in particular just keeps going up," Murphy says. "It's basically our No. 1 crop now in terms of cash receipts, having surpassed tobacco."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has cut tobacco quotas more than 50% since 1998, and the national agreement settling health claims, along with rising taxes and cheaper foreign competition, slashed receipts to $656.5 million in 2002 from $854.1 million in 2000. Economists predicted 2003 sales would be about $500 million. The situation led Whitakers farmer Dwight Watson to park his John Deere in a shallow pond near the Washington Monument in March and threaten to detonate explosives in a standoff with police. He could face 20 years in prison.

The Senate and House proposed quota buyouts in 2003, but neither bill passed. The Senate's, projected to cost about $13 billion, would pay owners a settlement based on 2002 allotments. The House bill would take a five-year average of the allotments and could cost up to $16 billion.

Meanwhile, Meg Scott Phipps resigned as agriculture commissioner in June amid a political fund-raising scandal. She was convicted by a state jury of perjury and other charges in late October. Phipps pleaded guilty in November to federal charges of extortion, mail fraud and conspiracy and will be sentenced in March. Gov. Mike Easley replaced her with Britt Cobb, a 30-year employee of the department. As the year ended, Cobb was considering whether to run for the office.

On the weather front, rain delayed the planting of some crops and drowned portions of others. The hurricane damaged crops in the state's Northeast, including eight of North Carolina's top 10 peanut- and cotton-producing counties. The Department of Agriculture estimates losses at $152 million. Cotton and soybeans...