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1 Taxes <br />2 Residential Growth/Development Encroachment <br />3 Markets~onnecting Local Producers with Local Buyers <br />4 Current Trends-=Drought (climate change) and Increasing Energy Costs <br />5 Lack of Interest from Young People (aging farm operators) <br />6 <br />8 <br />9 <br />10 <br />11 <br />12 <br />13 <br />14 <br />15 <br />16 <br />17 <br />18 <br />19 <br />20 <br />21 <br />22 <br />23 <br />24 <br />25 <br />26 <br />43 <br />44 <br />While increasing energy costs and issues associated with drought are new concerns, most of <br />the other items are familiar to those in the farming community. Many are interrelated. For <br />example, grown children who choose non-farm occupations leave their aging parents without a <br />trained heir to take over the operation when it is time for them to retire. Non-farm adults, <br />interested in pursuing agriculture as a vocation, by contrast, often lack access to productive <br />lands and equipment that they can afford. Some of the key components of each problem are <br />summarized below. <br />Falling Prices and Low Profitability <br />"Preserving farmland is hard to justify if <br />farmers still can't make a living on it."~ <br />Inconsistent commodity prices coupled <br />with rising costs of production, (such as <br />the increasing costs of fertilizer), have <br />resulted in low profitability and <br />inadequate farm income for farmers <br />across North Carolina and nationwide. <br />This affects the farmer's cash flow, <br />receivables, return on investment, and <br />incentive and ability to invest in continued <br />operations, thus making the farmer's hold <br />on his or her business untenable. <br />Changes in state and federal subsidy <br />programs have also impacted traditional farmers. <br />Regulations <br />Other common challenges for farmers include the high costs of labor, regulatory compliance <br />requirements and utility expenses. Local farmers pursuing innovative farm operations may run <br />into challenges from State and local regulations, particularly local zoning regulations. Orange <br />County needs to continue to examine and modify regulations that may be unnecessarily <br />onerous. For example, farm hand housing can become complicated. Orange County currently <br />limits housing to one primary dwelling unit and one accessory dwelling, no larger than 800 <br />square feet, per lot. Some farmers may be able to reuse or replace existing tenant houses; <br />others may need to subdivide a large tract to obtain additional dwelling unit allotments. Well <br />and septic system requirements may likewise increase to accommodate these new residents. <br />' Sam Bingham, An Agricultural Development and Farmland Protection Plan for Buncombe County, <br />November 2007, p. 5. <br />Draft 6/1/2009 Challenges to Agriculture 16 <br />