N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission has very wisely invested the Master Settlement monies back into rural communities to help this state’s farmers survive the major transitions in agriculture created by the demise of tobacco as a cash crop for family farmers. This transition is still going on and is complicated further by the economic crisis that has impacted farmers and rural North Carolina most severely. -Linda Shaw, Executive Director of RAFI-USA, April 28, 2011. (Read more).