NCGrowth organized a tour of businesses in Hoke and Robeson counties for students and faculty from multiple universities in North Carolina as well as community partners. Scotland County Economic Developer, Mark Ward and Scotland County Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, John Ferguson, joined the group for a tour of the Hoke Robeson Cotton Gin in Red Springs. Owner Ed Edens is a cotton farmer; he established the gin in 1994 to help other farms, as well as his own, process their cotton. Initially the gin served a 25-30 mile radius, but that radius has expanded to 100 miles. Edens spirits were high as he described the gin as the most modern, high capacity gin in the South East, although the business suffered 50% damage on all production from Hurricane Matthew last fall and took a financial hit when their major cotton seed customer closed.
The group observed the cotton move from field to bale while Edens described the process and answered questions. The gin processes 1,000 bales a day, and it’s the cotton seed that pays for the gin. The price of the seed determines the fee per pound that is charged to the farmers for the processing of their cotton.  “The farmers are treated like stockholders, and we have an annual meeting where we lay everything on the table,” said Edens.
Afterwards, NCGrowth visited Graham and Sons Produce in Maxton and had a picnic lunch provided by H & H Drive – In Restaurant. David Graham is keeping the family farm running since his father, Walt, passed away in 2013.  Graham and Sons Produce regularly brings home trophies from Maxton’s signature event, the Collard Festival. In fact, they have won so often, the award is now affectionately called the Grahammies. David says he’s continuing the legacy of his father whom he admired for his hard work and knowledge. Lloyd Patterson, who has worked on the farm for 18 years, showed the group around the fields. He takes care of the day-to-day operations along with David’s brother, John Jr. Everything is done by hand, and instead of a pesticide, they prefer a proprietary bug-deterring application. “Collards are better, prettier, after being kissed by the first frost,” says David. He sent everyone home with their own collard plants.

[kislideshow kirotate="true"][kislideshowslide kiimageurl="https://ncgrowth.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/david_graham.jpg" ]David Graham (center) shows off his collards to Mark Little, Director, NCGrowth (left) and John Quinterno, NCGrowth advisory board member (right)[/kislideshowslide][kislideshowslide kiimageurl="https://ncgrowth.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/plants-1.jpg" ][/kislideshowslide][kislideshowslide kiimageurl="https://ncgrowth.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/ed_edens-1.jpg" ]From left to right, Ed Edens discusses the cotton gin business with Scotland County Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, John Ferguson and Scotland County Economic Developer, Mark Ward[/kislideshowslide][kislideshowslide kiimageurl="https://ncgrowth.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/discussion_group-1.jpg" ][/kislideshowslide][kislideshowslide kiimageurl="https://ncgrowth.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/cotton_gin.jpg" ]Inside the Hoke Robeson Cotton Gin[/kislideshowslide] [/kislideshow]

The farmers are treated like stockholders, and we have an annual meeting where we lay everything on the table

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