Additional funding to improve North Carolina’s horse industry is the subject of a referendum set for Tuesday, March 19, at North Carolina Cooperative Extension centers across the state.

The referendum, authorized by the General Assembly in 1998, gives all N.C. horse owners the chance to vote on continuing to assess $2 per ton — a  nickel per bag — of horse feed.

Those who can’t vote in person on March 19 can get an absentee ballot and registration form from Cooperative Extension centers. These ballots will be available beginning Feb. 25 through March 11. Marked ballots and signed registration forms used for absentee voting must be returned to extension centers no later than the close of business March 15.

If a majority votes to continue the assessment, commercial horse feed manufacturers and distributors will continue sending the funds to the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which will transfer them to the N.C. Horse Council