NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1965 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 1064

SENATE BILL 119

 

 

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR RESEARCH STUDIES ON THE BREEDING, PRODUCTION, AND MECHANICAL HARVESTING OF CUCUMBERS IN NORTH CAROLINA.

 

WHEREAS, the production and pickling of cucumbers are major enterprises in North Carolina, the State ranking second among states of the Nation in total tons of cucumbers produced with a total of 20,100 acres having been produced in 1964 by 15,000 farm families for a total of three million six hundred twenty-two thousand five hundred dollars ($3,622,500) in farm value; and

WHEREAS, the demand for cucumbers produced in North Carolina has increased sharply, several additional cucumber pickling companies being interested in moving processing facilities to North Carolina or in contracting sizeable acreages in the State to be shipped to processing plants in other states, and cucumber processing companies now operating in the State being concerned with maintaining and expanding their present volume of contract acreage; and

WHEREAS, cucumbers are readily adaptable to farming conditions in many areas of North Carolina and North Carolina farmers urgently need to devote more land and other resources to the production of crops such as cucumbers so as to supplement their income from traditional crops; and

WHEREAS, several states in other regions are making heavy investments in cucumber research to increase yields, improve quality and develop effective mechanical harvesting machinery adapted to local conditions so as to enable farmers of those regions to compete more effectively for the national market for cucumbers; and

WHEREAS, cucumber yields in North Carolina are now lowest among the ten leading cucumber producing states of the Nation and present cultural and harvesting practices are heavily dependent upon hand labor and additional research with the objective of increasing the yield per acre, improving quality and developing an effective mechanical harvesting system adapted to North Carolina conditions is necessary; and

WHEREAS, these research objectives will require the closely coordinated efforts of horticulturists and agricultural engineers in a research program designed to develop new, higher yielding, disease resistant varieties adaptable to mechanical harvesting, to improve production technology, including chemical weed control, scheduled planting and harvesting, irrigation, fertilization, disease and insect control and to develop variety specifications, cultural practices, and techniques for the handling of the harvested raw product; and

WHEREAS, the need for this specialized research extends beyond presently available resources in terms of manpower, equipment and operating funds of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station: Now, therefore,

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1.  There is hereby appropriated from the General Fund of the State to the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) for the biennium July 1, 1965, to June 30, 1967, for the general purpose set forth in the preamble of this Act.

Sec. 2.  All expenditures made from the funds appropriated by this action and for the purpose herein designated shall be accounted for and reported according to the fiscal and financial system of the agency to whom the appropriation is made as herein set forth.

Sec. 3.  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 4.  This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 16th day of June, 1965.