Industry's ills linger over fair -

RALEIGH - The lights of the midway were visible against a gloomy backdrop Friday morning, marking a cloudy start to the 151st North Carolina State Fair.

Lines for the more than 90 rides brought in by new operator Reithoffer Shows of Gibsonton, Fla., stayed relatively short throughout the night.

But estimates for the first-day turnout hit 61,289, up from the average by about 12,000 people.

Over by the livestock arena, Bobby Sue and Daisy Duke were ready for action. Cleaned and brushed, the heifers had been training for this day for most of their young lives. Their hooves had even been painted.

Jenna Pacinelli, 12, and her sister Amanda, 15, have been training the Simmental heifers for a little less than a year on their grandmother's farm. "They're put separate from the rest of the cows," Amanda Pacinelli said. "You feed them and walk them every day to get them used to walking on a halter."

Heifers are judged on the structure of their muscles and the straightness of their backs.

"It just depends on the judge," Jenna Pacinelli said. "I think I'm going to do, not first place, but somewhere in the middle."

The sisters' grandfather, Richard Jenks, has lived and worked on a farm all his life. He raises tobacco and beef cattle in Apex.

With increasing amounts of development in his area driving up property taxes and last week's tobacco buyout likely making small tobacco farms unprofitable, Jenks said he'll probably retire soon. If property values go up much more in his area, he'll probably sell the farm.

All of Jenks' children have jobs in town, and those who still farm only help out on the weekends. He said he doesn't know if any of his grandchildren will go into the industry.

"My wife don't want none of them to farm," Jenks said. "... (She said) it's just too uncertain, but it's not, is it? If I've lived on a farm for 67 years ... it's pretty stable, isn't it?"

Behind J.S. Dorton Arena and away from the lights of the midway sits the Field of Dreams exhibit. There, children who might be three or four generations removed from the farm can "harvest" crops that are grown in the state.

Children also can ride a toy tractor, collect grain from a small silo replica, gather eggs and simulate the harvesting of potatoes and apples.

"This generation of parents of school-aged children have never lived on a farm," said Martha Glass, spokeswoman for the fair. "A lot of these kids don't know where an egg comes from. ... They've never seen a peanut plant; they've never seen a cotton plant."

Outside the fairgrounds, Glass said, urban North Carolinians can experience farm life through agritourism. People can go to farms across the state for strawberry picking and Christmas tree cutting. Farmers also sell products such as wine or preserves derived from their harvests.

Glass said such sales are one way farmers supplement their income. "Farmers have been making less and less money," she said. "They may have had the land for five or six generations, and they want to stay on their family farm."

But with more and more small family farms in the state succumbing to corporate agribusinesses, 4-H and livestock shows could become things of the past.

"These things I'm doing with my grandchildren are things they'll enjoy doing," Jenks said. "They're things they'll never forget, and neither will I."

The State Fair will run through Sunday night. The grounds are open from 8 a.m. until midnight.

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.

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