Source: THE DAILY TAR HEEL, 11/2/16

There once was a time when the tobacco industry was one of the most important industries in North Carolina and the backbone of the state’s agricultural market. As the number of American adults who smoke has declined steadily over the last five decades, the nature of tobacco farming has shifted from smaller, family-owned operations across the state to large-scale farms concentrated in eastern North Carolina. Stanley Hughes, a tobacco farmer and owner of Pine Knot Farms, which is just north of Hillsborough, said the automation techniques employed by these larger farms are expensive,

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