Welcome to North Carolina Farm Bureau’s blog—The First Furrow!
First things first: what about the name The First Furrow?
When a farmer plants a field, the first row—the first furrow—must be straight; it cannot waiver or stray. This is because the first furrow is a guide for the rest of the field. If it’s crooked, the rest of the field will be crooked, too. To make sure the field is planted correctly, the farmer has to pay attention to what he’s doing and focus on what’s ahead.
As with planting a field, when talking about agriculture policy, the first furrow has to be based on good, reliable information. If a conversation starts with inaccurate or misleading information, it’s tough to get it on the right track.
The First Furrow will present the facts about North Carolina agriculture—our state’s number one economic driver—framing the issues fairly and promoting informed opinions. We’ll have plenty to talk about. We will examine policy issues that affect North Carolina’s farm families both locally and nationally, including tax policy; the need to reform our nation’s broken immigration laws; and the scope of environmental regulations, just to name a few. As we do, we’ll plow ahead as a farmer planting the first furrow—relying on facts, sound science and basic common sense. And while making no promises, we’ll try to make the conversation entertaining, too.
We’ll be posting new content each week on Wednesday, so please make us a regular part of your midweek routine. That’s all for now, we hope you’ll enjoy reading The First Furrow.