Beaufort County farmers will have to say whether they support a self-assessed, state program.   Users of feed and fertilizer in North Carolina will vote Nov. 16 whether to continue the voluntary 15-cents-per-ton self-assessment on fertilizer and animal feed produced in our state.

The polling place will be at the Beaufort County Cooperative Extension Service Center, 155 Airport Road, Washington. Voting occurs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Since 1951, the Nickels for Know-How check-off has been voted on every six years, and it has passed in the 13 previous referenda by an average 90 percent favorable vote, officials said.

“Virtually every significant advancement in agriculture in the last 60 years has received Nickels funding at some point,” said Johnny C. Wynne, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University. “Without Nickels, our college would not be able to serve the citizens of North Carolina as well as we do.”

In addition, Nickels for Know-How provides support for fund raising efforts in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences that generate more than $20 million annually in private contributions. This is a $50 return on every $1 invested, officials said.

Some of the entities that Nickels provides support include the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service Foundation, the CALS Research Foundation, the N.C. 4-H Development Fund, the N.C. FFA Foundation, the N.C. Family & Consumer Sciences Foundation, the N.C. Dairy Foundation, the CALS Alumni and Friends Society and the J.C. Raulston Arboretum Board of Directors.

Nickels funds have helped the college to raise funds for more than 550 endowments valued at more than $100 million that provide $900,000 in support of scholarships for 800 undergraduate students in the college. In addition, these endowments support faculty efforts, county extension programs, commodity-research efforts and other programs in CALS.

Co-chairs of the referendum are Larry Wooten, president of the N.C. Farm Bureau; Jimmy Gentry, president of the N.C. State Grange; and James I. (Jim) Smith, chairman of the N.C. Agricultural Foundation Inc. and a farmer from Stem.

For information on Nickels for Know-How, contact Gaylon Ambrose, county extension director, at 946-0111.