North Carolina's farm economy is one of the biggest industries in the state. That's one of the reasons for a forum today on trends that affect the agriculture economy. State officials say farm safety, exports and drought will be some of the topics. Brian Long is with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. He says there's another problem that doesn't get as much attention.
Brian Long: The average age of a farmer in North Carolina is 57 years, you know, and that's been going up. So what we need is to see younger people taking up the profession of farming and that's kind of daunting because land costs have gone up.
Long says farmers sometimes find themselves in competition with developers to get suitable land.
