Source: Mike McHugh, KINSTON FREE PRESS, 6/19/18

 
With one out of every four acres dedicated to producing crops or raising livestock, agriculture is big business in eastern North Carolina. But its ability to grow is facing headwinds. Throughout the state, cash receipts from farm products generated in 2016 totaled $10.6 billion, according to statistics from the N.C. Department of Agricultural (NCDA). In a seven-county area — Carteret, Craven, Duplin, Jones, Lenoir, Onslow and Pamlico counties — more than 650,000 acres are dedicated to growing crops or raising livestock on a total of 2,319 farms, according to 2012 census data provided by the NCDA.

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