County officials seek ways to preserve farmland

Granville County officials this week voiced support for efforts to curb the rapid loss of farmland in the county.

Kim Woods, area agriculture agent with the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service, presented information on farmland preservation Monday during the meeting of the Granville County Board of Commissioners.

In addition to describing the loss of farmland in the county, Woods also talked about ways county commissioners can support farmland preservation — including taking it into consideration when making planning and zoning decisions — and promoted an Oct. 29 “Keeping the Farm” workshop for landowners interested in learning more about keeping their land in agricultural production.

County Manager Drew Cummings said he is excited about the Keeping the Farm day and appreciates the information Woods provided at the meeting.

Woods said North Carolina is second only to Texas in the extent of agricultural land loss, and she noted that Texas has a much larger land mass than North Carolina has.

“To be number two in the country (in loss of farmland) when we’re not number two in state size is not good,” Woods said.

In Granville County itself, more than 13% of farms and more than 18% of farm acreage has been lost over the past five years, with an average loss of 4,500 acres per year during that period, Woods told the county commissioners.

She said the American Farmland Trust has projected based on current trends that the county will lose 21,500 acres to “runaway sprawl” from 2016 – 2040.

Farming remains an important industry in the county, with 483 farms and 339,838 total acres in agricultural production, according to information provided by Woods. That includes 32,279 acres in cropland, 10,846 acres in pastureland, and 51,202 acres in woodland, she said.

Woods said strategies for preserving farmland include maintaining the Present Use Value system for taxing property that’s in agricultural production, the Voluntary Agricultural District that landowners can choose to make their property part of, and planning and zoning decisions that encourage higher-density development within smaller areas rather that so many sprawling subdivisions.

The extension service wants to match people who are interested in farming but don’t own land with landowners who would like their land farmed but are not able to farm it.

Commissioner Russ May said he would like to help spread the word about opportunities for people interested in farming to find land they can farm.

“Who would that person go to, to make that happen?” May asked.

Woods said the state cooperative extension office has an online system, which she compared to an online dating service in terms of how it works, that matches landowners with potential farmers.

Farmland loss is not only a county problem but also a state and national problem, Woods said.

State Rep. Frank Sossamon, who was at the meeting to make a couple of presentations honoring local citizens, said N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler has made farmland preservation one of his top priorities. Sossamon is working on putting together an agriculture forum for the district he represents, similar to forums he has held on topics such as mental health, child care, and human trafficking.

The commissioners also heard a report from Elliott Clark, regional director of community relations for Vaya Health, who talked about the new Tailored Plan for Medicaid that will begin July 1 and other initiatives of Vaya Health in the community. He said Vaya Health appreciates Sossamon’s work in putting together forums on topics such as mental health and child care.

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