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a. Are best suited for providing food, seed, fiber, forage, timber, forestry <br />products, horticultural crops and oil seed crops; <br />b. Have good soil qualities; <br />c. Are favorable for all major crops common to the county where the land is <br />located; <br />d. Have a favorable growing season; and <br />e. Receive the available moisture needed to produce high yields for an average <br />of eight out often years; <br />OR <br />Have been actively used in agricultural, horticultural or forestry operations as <br />defined by N.C.G.S. §105-277.2 (1,2,3) during each of the five previous years, <br />measured from the date on which the determination must be made as to whether the <br />land in question qualifies; <br />4. Be managed, if highly erodible land exists on the farm, in accordance with the <br />Natural Resources Conservation Service defined erosion-control practices that are <br />addressed to said highly-erodible land; and <br />5. Be the subject of a conservation agreement, as defined in N.C.G.S. §121-35, <br />between the County and the owner of such land that prohibits non-farm use or <br />development of such land for a period of at least ten years, except for the creation of <br />not more than three lots that meet applicable County zoning and subdivision <br />regulations. <br />ARTICLE VIII <br />APPLICATION, APPROVAL, AND APPEAL PROCEDURE <br />A. Application and Certification Procedures <br />A farmland owner may apply for either certification as qualifying farmland or for qualifying <br />farmland designation. For a farmland owner to receive the benefits provided by this <br />Ordinance, the farm must be certified as qualifying farmland (Certified Qualifying Farm) by <br />the Board and approved and designated as within a Voluntary Agricultural District by the <br />Board of Commissioners. <br />