News-Record.com

RALEIGH (AP) - Two candidates for governor attempted Thursday to woo the farm vote at a policy forum, with Republican Pat McCrory promoting offshore drilling and Democrat Beverly Perdue touting her knowledge of the agriculture industry.

"I've been a friend of agriculture for a long, long time, and I'm a friend of yours today," Perdue told more than 350 people gathered at the North Carolina Farm Bureau headquarters. She said she has 14 years representing rural counties in the Legislature. "I understand the issues."

McCrory, the mayor of Charlotte since 1995, spoke primarily about education, energy and ethics during his speech, saying that farmers have the same concerns as other North Carolina residents.

The GOP nominee also reiterated his pledge if elected to sign an executive order to allow for oil and natural gas drilling off the North Carolina coast. Perdue, the lieutenant governor, didn't mention drilling in her speech but has said she's opposed to the idea.

"She says 'not on my watch' will it happen," McCrory said. "Ladies and gentlemen, on my watch, as your next governor, it will happen and it will make a positive difference for North Carolina and this nation and the next generation."

Congress first would have to lift a decades-old federal drilling ban along the Atlantic coast. McCrory said farmers would benefit from drilling by ultimately creating a more plentiful fuel source to run their machinery and transport their crops to market.

The Farm Bureau is the state's largest general farm organization with nearly a half-million members.

"The next governor should be a part of the energy solution," he said, adding that he also was committed to conservation and finding alternative fuels.

Perdue spokesman Tim Crowley said late Thursday that there are already tens of millions of acres available for drilling that aren't off the North Carolina coast: "Oil companies need to start drilling there first, and they can start today."

Earlier Thursday, Perdue said at the bureau's policy meeting she was committed to helping expand new markets for agriculture, particularly through the state's biotechnology industry that would create improved biofuels that would expend fewer pollutants to produce.

She told reporters she was interested in a proposal by 10 U.S. senators for an offshore drilling compromise along the Southeast coast. But it would still require each state to permit drilling.

"We do have to concentrate on gasoline prices and oil prices now," Perdue said.

Perdue told Farm Bureau members she understood that farmers are challenged by a rapidly growing state where development, drought and global competition are making it difficult for them to stay in business.

"Farmers want a place, a farm, a future where they're not squeezed out at every turn," she said. "With me as your governor, you're going to have an open door. You're going to have a place at the table."

McCrory said that people like Perdue are part of the problem in state government, which he said is not responding to the needs of citizens. He also warned that outside union groups are backing Perdue in hopes of expanding their organizing efforts among farm workers and elsewhere.

"You're going to have a governor that protects the right of business, and also protect employees to get fair jobs but not be forced to join labor unions," he said.

McCrory said his administration would focus more on vocational and technical education in order to meet high demand for jobs that don't require a four-year degree but can help aid the agricultural industry.

Some forum attendees said they liked what they heard from McCrory on education despite few specifics on farming.

"I think he's willing to learn," said Henry Sink Sr., 90, of Davidson County, who runs a farm with his son. "He don't know it all."