Agricultural Hall of Fame - CLAUDE TIPP HALL

CLAUDE TIPP HALL
May 13, 1890 - October 2, 1972

Claude Tipp Hall was a man to whom the word "commitment" most aptly applies. Born on a farm, he was all of his life deeply concerned for the progress of North Carolina agriculture.

Born May 13, 1890, Claude Tipp Hall was the youngest of seven children of Joseph Hillman Hall and Ninne Jones Hall. As a boy working in the tobacco fields, Claude wished mightily that he could do something to improve the lot of tobacco farmers. He attended Bethel Hill Academy where he finished his studies in 1911. He was appointed to the building committee of the new Bethel Hill High School and all the rough timber for the building came from his farm. Claude attended the University of North Carolina and Wake Forest College.

He affiliated himself with nearly every group dedicated to improving the economic condition of the individual farmer. Some of these groups he helped organize. To all of his membership-agriculture, church and civic - he brought a deep sense of commitment. He was most faithful in attending meetings and tireless in his contributions to their various programs.

In 1922 he was elected a director of the old Tri-State Tobacco Growers Association, representing Person and Granville counties for four years. In 1934 he helped to organize the Graham Production Credit Association, which by 1963 had the largest membership of any PCA in the four states of the Third Farm Credit District. In 1962 he was appointed by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Orville L. Freeman, as a member of the National Tobacco Advisory Council.

During his lifetime of service to agriculture, he was instrumental in initiating the federal tobacco price support program. He represented the Farm Credit Board as an advisor to the Farm Credit Administration in Washington. He also served as president of the Person County Farm Bureau; a member of the Person County Board of Education for two terms; for 20 years as Chairman of the Person Production and Marketing Administration Committee (later to become ASCS); vice president of Tobacco Associates from the time it was organized and for many years thereafter; and as a member of the Tobacco Tax Council and of the Tobacco Growers Information Committee.

In 1939 Mr. Hall was appointed by Governor Clyde Hoey to a six-year term on the North Carolina Board of Agriculture and was reappointed at six-year intervals by each succeeding Governor for the remainder of his life, one of the longest consecutive memberships ever held on this board. During this 33-year period, he missed only two meetings of the board because of conflicts with meetings of the Farm Credit Board.

Although he operated a very large farm in Person County, Mr. Hall could always be counted on to find time and energy when called upon for service in the interest of North Carolina and North Carolina agriculture. He gave far more than mere lip-service to every cause he espoused.

There is no segment of agriculture that has not felt the touch of Claude Hall's influence in some way. He is particularly remembered for his efforts on behalf of the farm credit system and the flue-cured tobacco program. Both stand as monuments to his more than fifty years of service.

Elected to the North Carolina
AGRICULTURAL HALL OF FAME
1977