Williamston and Northeastern North Carolina value the assistance of N.C. State University

During 2003, a doctoral student in N.C. State University’s College of Education learned that a large number of Martin County high school students planned on leaving the county once they graduated. So, Debbie Reno worked with local Cooperative Extension faculty and together they explored the environment for young people, determining ways to get them more involved in their communities and to persuade them to stay in Martin County beyond high school.

That effort helped the county identify steps to retain young people, and those efforts ultimately led to Williamston’s designation by Audubon International as one of the nation’s first sustainable communities. Dr. Debbie Reno, that former doctoral student, now coordinates programs for the General Hugh Shelton Leadership Center at N.C. State.

“As the first municipality to receive the Audubon International Sustainable Community Certification in the state of North Carolina, the town of Williamston has demonstrated a strong commitment to the ideals of sustainability – economic viability, environmental protection and social responsibility,” said Suzi Zakowski of Audubon International, as she presented the recognition. “With the surrounding natural landscape of Eastern North Carolina and a rich heritage, Williamston has much to celebrate. It is a unique place filled with residents, businesses and community organizations that care deeply about the place they call home.”

Working its way toward this honor, Williamston has partnered with N.C. State in a variety of ways to capitalize on its natural and cultural resources to make the community a more inviting place to live, and to bring economic development through tourism. At about the same time as Reno’s study, Williamston partnered with faculty and students from N.C. State’s College of Design to develop a plan for trails that would tie together what was then a relatively new Bob Martin Eastern Agriculture Center, downtown Williamston and the Roanoke River. The city also worked with students and faculty from the university’s College of Natural Resources to conduct a study determining the economic impact of the Agriculture Center.

“If we come up with a problem or a concept we do not know how to deal with, we just make a call to colleagues at NC State,” said Tom Ward, Sustainability Coordinator for Williamston.

Cooperative Extension Tourism faculty in the College of Natural Resources helped develop the N.C. Birding Trail, which includes sites in Martin County. Among those involved in developing the birding trail were Stacy Tomas of N.C. State and Lena Gallitano, pictured below. Businesses and agencies developed strategies to become “bird-friendly businesses,” and seven Martin County businesses are listed on the birding trail’s website. The county also has a number of attractions listed in the Homemade Homegrown guide, from berry farms to walking tours to a paddle trail. Homemade Homegrown: Art Roads and Farm Trails is a joint effort by N.C. Cooperative Extension and the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources to help communities showcase their cultural and agricultural resources.

“One thing I have learned is that one set of conditions becomes the impetus for the next change. We are working together (with NC State) to make this a good place to live,” Ward said.

Regional Economic Develpment

Like Williamston, much of northeastern North Carolina has struggled to attract and retain business and industry. The College of Engineering’s Industrial Extension Service has worked with several regional industries, and as a result they have prospered. These businesses are excellent examples of the statewide effort to provide $1 billion in economic impact to the state. With IES’s partnership, 10 local health agencies in the Northeastern Partnership (including Beaufort, Warren, Halifax, Northampton, Hertford, Martin-Tyrell-Washington, Edgecombe, Albemarle Region, Hyde and Dare counties) successfully implemented a Lean project by June 2009. Lean is a quality improvement method, designed to identify and eliminate waste.

“I was sold that Lean was something that could help us be more efficient,” said Roxanne Holloman, Beaufort County health director.

Berry Plastics in Ahoskie also benefited from IES’s Lean training. The company reported an economic impact of $3.7 million based upon the gains they’ve made through their lean transformation. The company, which manufactures plastics packaging especially for the pharmaceutical industry, scheduled a Lean 100 on-site training program so everyone in the organization could benefit

Today, Martin County and northeastern North Carolina are looking toward the future, laying the foundation to become even more successful in the emerging bio-based economy. Producers are already growing crops that will be processed into a range of new products – from biofuels to nutraceuticals, foods with human health benefits.

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has worked with North Carolina’s Northeast Commission to form a plant biotechnology task force known as North Carolina’s Northeast Alliance for Agricultural Biotechnology. N.C. State is also an active member with East Carolina University and Elizabeth City State University in a working group with local leaders. This group was formed to focus on plant biotechnology research that will benefit Northeastern North Carolina.

This new effort could be centered at the Vernon James Research and Extension Center in Plymouth, and the first step will be to develop a pilot extraction facility at the center. This will be a lab where companies that want to produce and sell a biobased product can come and test the extraction process, and learn how best to process the crop from which they intend to produce their product. Northeast Alliance for Agricultural Biotechnology has secured a grant to plan the facility.

At the same time, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences faculty at Vernon James in partnership with community leaders, secured a Golden LEAF grant to develop a B-cert program that certifies farmers to produce biotechnology crops. The North Carolina Biotechnology Center has committed to develop training materials for the program. The availability of this program and farmers who are certified to produce biotech crops will be an incentive for industry to locate to northeastern North Carolina as an ideal location for the production of crops that will feed into the biobased economy.