Orange County NC Website
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1 <br />2 <br />3 <br />4 <br />5 <br />6 <br />7 <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 />27 <br />28 <br />29 <br />30 <br />31 <br />32 <br />33 <br />34 <br />35 <br />36 <br />and conservation may be of particular interest Orange County's conventional farmers looking for <br />new ways to make their land profitable. <br />Food, Conservation and Energ .Y Act of 2 008, Farm Bill Titles <br /> <br />• Title I Commodity Programs Title VIII Forestry <br />• Title II Conservation Title DC Energy <br />• Title III Trade Title X Horticulture and Organic Agriculture <br />• Title N Nutrition Title XI Livestock <br />• Title V Credit Title XII Crop Insurance <br />• Title VI Rural Development Title XIII Commodity Futures <br />• Title VII Research Title XN Miscellaneous <br />A number of other programs are already available to local farmers. The following list includes <br />some of the voluntary federal programs that are administered by the Natural Resources <br />Conservation Service (NRCS) and Farm Services Agency (FSA) of the United States Department <br />of Agriculture (USDA) support staff. They are designed to compensate farmland owners for the <br />conservation value of their land. Like local conservation easement programs, they have the <br />dual effect of safeguarding the environmental benefits of farmland as open space while <br />injecting dollars into the local economy via the farmland owner.25 <br />1. Farm and Ranchland Protection Program ~FRPPT. The Farm and Ranchland Protection <br />Program provides federal funds to help purchase development rights, keeping <br />productive farmland in agricultural use while compensating the farmland owner for the <br />conservation value of his or her land. The FRPP program matches state and local <br />agricultural conservation easement programs up to 50% of the easement purchase <br />price, working through state, tribal and local governments and land trusts. Orange <br />County has received $2.3 million in grants from FRPP since 2002 for the acquisition of <br />10 easements. <br />2. Conservation Reserve Proaram (CRP). The Conservation Reserve Program reduces soil <br />erosion, protects the nation's ability to produce food and fiber, reduces sedimentation in <br />streams and lakes, improves water quality, establishes wildlife habitat, and enhances <br />forest and wetland resources. It encourages farmers to convert highly erodible cropland <br />or other environmentally sensitive acreage to vegetative cover, such as tame or native <br />grasses, wildlife plantings, trees, filter strips, or riparian buffers. Farmers receive an <br />annual rental payment for the term of the multi-year contract. Orange County farmers <br />have received $57,471 during the last four years from this program. <br />3. Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREPT. CREP is a voluntary program that <br />seeks to protect land along watercourses that is currently in agricultural production. The <br />objectives of the program include: installing 100,000 acres of forested riparian buffers, <br />grassed filter strips and wetlands; reducing the impacts of sediment and nutrients within <br />the targeted area; and providing substantial ecological benefits for many wildlife species <br />that are declining in part as a result of habitat loss. Under CREP, landowners can <br />'~ For more program information and legislative authority, see <br />www.nres. usda.gov/proorams/farmbill/2002 <br />Draft 6/1/2009 Opportunities for Enhancing Agriculture in Orange County 31 <br />