Budget Cuts Threaten Ag Review
 
A NC House Appropriations subcommittee has recommended abolishing the Ag Review in their latest round of recommended cuts.
 
The Agricultural Review newspaper has been in publication in its current form since 1926 and is an important tool for commerce between farmers. For example, in October 2008, which represents an average month for the newspaper, there was more than $17.6 million worth of items and services listed for sale.

•  N.C. General Statute 106-22 requires the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to publish a bulletin of agricultural information. The publication began in 1914 as the Extension Farm News, and became the Agricultural Review in 1926, when it also began publishing free classified advertisements for farm-related items.
• The cost of publishing the Agricultural Review - including labor, printing and postage - is 32 cents per copy. 
• Throughout its history, the Agricultural Review has served to inform the public about North Carolina agriculture and the work of the NCDA&CS. Perhaps even more important in the eyes of its readers, the paper - through its free classified ads - also provides a forum for commerce, promoting the buying and selling of equipment and supplies, farmland, farm animals and other agricultural items. 
• Cooperative Extension agents and farm organizations regularly use the publication as an outlet for publicizing events. Each issue of the paper contains listings of a wide variety of agriculture-related activities, such as field days, seminars, workshops, and horse and livestock events. 
• In addition to editorial content, issues typically contain between 1,000 and 1,200 classified ads. The paper provides a no-cost forum for farmers to sell a variety of items. It spurs commerce among farmers and other citizens. For example, the total value of items, land and animals advertised for sale in the October 2008 issue was more than $17 million. Some farms gain extra income through services or products sold through the Agricultural Review. 
• Because of the audience, the printed newspaper remains popular. Many subscribers do not have Internet access, whether by choice or because they are in areas with limited access to Internet service.
• The publication has other benefits, too. As newspaper columnist J.A.C. Dunn wrote in 1982: "The Ag Review's classifieds have one superb, although quite intangible value, and that is that they make the peanut farmer in Murfreesboro and the apple grower in Brevard feel like next-door neighbors. ... No other publication in the state can achieve that." (Winston-Salem Journal, April 15, 1982)
• Dunn's words were right on the mark. The Agricultural Review's readers are intensely loyal to the paper. Perhaps because of this, they do not hesitate to voice their opinions whenever any changes are made to the paper.