What started out as a research facility for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco may hold the future for economic development in and around Bertie County. The extraction plant was built in the 1960’s as a place to experiment with flavors for cigarettes.
Today, the Avoca Farms plant provides an extract from clary sage, an herb critical for the fragrance industry. This biotechnology process, where scientists can extract chemicals from plants, may be the key to growing more industry for this rural community.
Dr. David Peele, President of Avoca Farms, explains, “the NC Biotechnology Center has been in existence for 25 years now. There are 525 biotech companies who have all been doing research for 25 years. So it’s about time now for things to be coming out of laboratories to be commercialized.”
Having land to grow the crops and then being able to extract chemicals from them is an important part of the county’s economic equation. The area’s promoter would like to see more extraction facilities. According to Vann Rogerson, President and CEO of the Northeast Commission, Avoca Farms expertise is the key to luring more business. "A company coming to the area can be assured through their years or work in extracting that the yield will be what they say it will be even if a small amount of biomass."
Rogerson predicts, "we'll never have the super labs that you will find at Centennial Campus or Wake Forest or scattered around. But we will be a quality partner in proving their technology."
Bertie County could use the boost. According to the last US Census, the population is dwindling and of those who stay, 26 percent of the county’s residents live in poverty.
"We have pockets of prosperity but the world has changed," says Governor Bev Perdue. "We are no longer an agrarian economy bundled around low wage manufacturing, textiles and agriculture and tobacco. Agriculture is now is 21st century."
Specialized education and expanding broadband are critical for training area residents, luring companies to the area and perhaps even bringing the young people who left back according to Steve Biggs, Bertie County’s Economic Developer. "Sometimes we get lucky and those people come back home. The salesman in me says come on down and look at us. We have a lot to offer.’
Farmer Charles Harden is willing to take it a step further." We’ve got the ag here and industry at Avoca, and who knows the next Silicon Valley might be Bertie County."
Rogerson says, "that is our goal to make these niches in our rural areas so we’re competitive anywhere in the world."
Plans are underway right now to fund 3 million dollars to build another smaller pilot extraction site in bertie county to help launch this manufacturing market. So far, university partners, the tobacco trust fund, the rural center and the golden leaf foundation have promised financial support.
Watch the NC Now Feature
Interview with Dr. David Peele, President of Avoca Farms