Source: NCDA&CS, 6/8/22


We Are Agriculture is a year-long series that will highlight the hard-work done by employees across the Department of Agriculture. Bobby Smith, Tree Improvement Supervisor in the eastern part of the state with our N.C. Forest Service, is one of those employees. Stay tuned each Wednesday here on the blog or any of our social media accounts and join us in honoring those who continue to drive our state’s agriculture industry forward each day!

Bobby Smith, a Tree Improvement Supervisor in the eastern part of the state with the N.C. Forest Service, grew up surrounded by agriculture but not in the conventional way you would imagine. “My granddad was the neighborhood plumber after retirement, so he would go out to many local farms in our community to work on their water systems,” he said, “and I remember going with him on many occasions and enjoyed getting to know the farmers and their stories.” In fact, at the age of 16, Bobby started working with one of these farmers growing a variety of row crops, including tobacco and cotton as well as raising chickens and hogs. “That is really where my true love for the agriculture industry began,” he said.

For more of this story, click here.