RALEIGH – North Carolina cotton growers will vote April 1 on whether to continue a checkoff program that supports their industry.
The referendum would reauthorize an assessment of up to $1 per bale of cotton sold, but the N.C. Cotton Producers Association’s board of directors plans to continue the assessment at the current level of 80 cents per bale. The assessment would be in effect for another six years.
The checkoff program supports improvements in cotton production, marketing and research, and also promotes the general interests of North Carolina’s cotton industry.
All North Carolina cotton producers who planted the crop in 2015 and intend to plant cotton this year are eligible to vote in the referendum at their county Cooperative Extension office on April 1. Polling hours will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
If the referendum is approved, the assessment would continue to be collected by the gin and submitted to the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The department then would send the assessment funds to the N.C. Cotton Producers Association, a nonprofit organization based in Nashville, N.C.
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