A Strategy for Economic Development in North Carolina.

Many development economists stress the need for stepping up the rate of transition from agriculture to manufacturing substantially to increase per capita income and accelerate economic growth. This article presents one method of promoting that transition in North Carolina, one of the less developed states. North Carolina ranks mainly as an agricultural state. Tobacco is the chief product. University economists in North Carolina estimate that about half the total farm workers could be displaced if known mechanization technology were applied generally in tobacco cultivation. This excess labor in agriculture is considered to be a principal cause of rural poverty. The cause or causes of that excess labor in agriculture are what must be dealt with if people are to establish conditions conducive to further development and the reduction of poverty. Addition of capital on the farms and in factories, and the transfer of labor from agriculture to manufacturing should occur together, gradually, if optimum levels of production and productivity are to be achieved with minimum distress in the change. Greater taxation of land, proportionate to its rent potential, would force more efficient cultivation methods and the release of excess labor to preserve profit margins.