After tobacco: North Carolina builds on the legacy of the golden leaf

(The Economist) ... Tobacco’s legacy to Winston-Salem is far from being merely architectural. Because it has been such an important cash crop for so long, it is among the most studied plants in the world—Richard Reich, the assistant commissioner for agricultural services in North Carolina’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, calls it “the laboratory white rat” of the plant world. Much of that study, of course, was done by tobacco companies, and Targacept, one of the bioscience companies in the Piedmont Triad Research Park, is among the fruits of that labour. Continued

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