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32 <br /> session for existing and prospective VAD/EVAD farm owners to <br /> encourage new participants and answer questions for existing <br /> farm <br /> owners. <br /> • Support continuation of the successful Farm-to- <br /> Table Event for 4t"-grade students held at Blackwood Farm in fall <br /> 2013 and 2014 <br /> • Continue to promote and recommend Voluntary <br /> Agricultural Districts and Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural Districts • <br /> • Educate/inform new, established and prospective <br /> farmers about the 2015 elimination of the present-use tax value <br /> requirement for VAD/EVAD participation. <br /> • Purchase and install additional road signs to better <br /> identify farms in the Voluntary Agricultural District Program (existing <br /> and new farms) <br /> • Implement Orange County Agricultural Heritage <br /> Project to document and make a record of the County's farms and <br /> farmers, including oral histories and video/photo documentation <br /> What are the concerns or emerging issues your board has identified for the <br /> upcoming year that it plans to address, or wishes to bring to the Commissioners' <br /> attention? <br /> • Current Present Use program rules require that new <br /> owners or heirs of farmland must apply for Present Use status within <br /> a short period of time after the land transfer has taken place, or the <br /> option to enroll expires. Some farmers and property owners are not <br /> aware of this rule and are forced to wait the full four year waiting <br /> period before they are able to participate in the Present Use program. <br /> Better education is needed to inform new owners of this <br /> requirement. <br /> • Efforts to keep farmland in agricultural producing <br /> and farmers in farming in the County depend partly on developing <br /> and maintaining local and regional markets for farm products. <br /> Nationally and regionally, direct-to-consumer sales of farm products <br /> appear to be plateauing or decreasing by some measures, such as <br /> sales at farmers markets and customer participation in CSAs. The <br /> APB would like to explore the possibility of forming a study group or <br /> task force to develop strategies for fostering local direct-to- <br /> consumer and regional sales opportunities for our farmers. <br /> • Nuisance lawsuits by neighboring property owners <br /> continue to be a problem for some farmers. Those who purchase <br /> property next to a pre-existing farm operation still have the ability to <br /> complain and sue based on farm smells and noise unless the farm is <br /> already enrolled in the VAD/EVAD program. <br />