Agriculture Czar Ripe for Retirement

Jim Graham has taken a bite out of tobacco leaves, wiped his brow with the leaf and injected into conversations the state’s rank in production of everything from pickles, pigs and poultry to flowers and mountain trout.

For 36 years as state agriculture secretary, Graham has done whatever he could to promote North Carolina crops. In his pocket, he carries a card with the latest ranking of farm products, which had cash receipts of $7.2 billion last year.

Graham, who is retiring when his term ends in January, always asked for a vote and ended every speech with: “I love my job.” A few adoring audiences of farmers would say it with him.

That love earned the 79-year-old Graham the nickname “Sodfather” and a reputation as a campaigner who couldn’t be beaten. The few who tried to challenge him were trounced at the polls as Graham became the longest-serving elected agriculture commissioner in the country.

“He’s the best politician I know,” said Gov. Jim Hunt, who is himself leaving office with a mere 16 years as governor. “He’s like a wonderful salesman who represents his company so well that everybody wants to buy our products.”

Once, Graham handed a surprised visitor to his office a frozen duck, kept with other products in a freezer in an anteroom so he could dole them out. His generous spirit shone through when he tried to pay for the groceries of a man fumbling for his wallet in a check-out line.

Earlier this year, Graham begged Chinese inspectors to approve flue-cured tobacco for export to their country as he tried to help farmers open a new market. After the meeting, he wrapped his long arms around one Chinese official and posed for a photo, proclaiming his grinning guest as “my man.”

Always colorful, Graham once kissed a mule’s rear end in payment of a lost political bet.

He didn’t lose much. Graham, whose daughter carried on the political tradition by winning a state House seat this year, is one of two long-serving elected department heads retiring this year in North Carolina. The other is state Treasurer Harlan Boyles, a friend and ally of Graham.

“Mr. Graham and I are going into business together,” joked Boyles, who has been treasurer 24 years. “We’re going to set out shade trees.”

Graham said last year he would retire to spend more time with his wife, Helen. She died a month later from complications of Alzheimer’s disease, and several candidates made plans to run for his post.

In January, Graham will leave his office, once crammed with ceremonial shovels and hats, to Meg Scott Phipps, a Democrat elected in November. He said he’ll miss his pocket of paradise where, for decades, he had a view of Capitol Square.

Retirement won’t mean sitting in a rocker someplace, Graham vowed. He said he might learn to use a computer for more than just e-mail.

“I’m going to try to master it,” Graham said in his trademark rumbling tones. “You’re never too old. Just don’t overlook the fact that you can’t eat those [computer] chips for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

He said he worries that people don’t respect farmers and think food comes from the store instead of the fields.

Graham is a farmer himself. He owns a 240-acre cattle farm in Rowan County and said he plans to sell some of his 75 head of cattle. “The day I sell, the prices will probably drop,” he worried out loud.

During his time in office, Graham has seen the state’s agriculture industry change from tobacco-dominated to heavily involved in pork and poultry, and the growing sweet potato and cotton markets.

He preached diversity from the beginning, all the while praising tobacco farmers and defending them from attacks by anti-smoking forces.

Everyone in the business knew his Stetson hat, cigar and cowboy boots. They remain today, though the cigar is unlit and stuck in his jacket pocket, and a cane has become a necessary accessory.

Graham’s favorite job during his tenure was presiding over the state fair. He met his wife at an artificial waterfall on the grounds. The old waterfall was torn down, but a new one was erected and named for Helen Graham.

He said the fair exposes children who have never seen a farm to animal and product displays, hooking them with an exhibit where they can hold a baby chick or duckling.

Every year, there’s a special attraction just inside the main gate of the North Carolina State Fair. One year it was a piglet racetrack. This year, the fair’s 133rd, it was a display honoring Graham, who prowled the fairgrounds every day from opening to closing.

The exhibit included a mock-up of his office--down to a cigar in the desk’s ashtray. Visitors followed footprints resembling Graham’s 15 1/2 EEEE cowboy boots around the exhibit of farm products.

“After being in that office for 36 years, I hate to leave it,” Graham said. “I have a passion for it. I never dread going to work in the morning.”

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North Carolina State Fair: https://www.ncstatefair.org

North Carolina Department of Agriculture: https://www.ncagr.com