ABSTRACT
The demise of tobacco farming has been linked in the public eye with the rise of winemaking. The mainstay of many small farms that dotted the North Carolina landscape, tobacco had proved a resilient crop because demand was fairly predictable, raw material costs minimal and the dollar value of tobacco yields quite high. Entrepreneurship studies suggest that the key to successful small firm growth is both the supply of risk-taking individuals and the requisite demand or space in the economy for the product or service that they are producing. Viticultural knowledge was available from outside sources but not tacit details specific to local idiosyncrasies. The attendant stimulus package was also intended to encourage alterative industries such as bio-technology as a way to address broader economic problems of other declining industries. As the growth took off amongst vinifera growers, the muscadine market began to acquire its own identity.
