Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
DRAFT <br /> 12/20/82 <br /> .,- ` PROPOSED 1/7/83 <br /> _ <br /> ORANGE COUNTY 1/14/83 <br /> FARM PRESERVATION PROGRAM <br /> FINDINGS OF FACT <br /> • Prime farmland is an irreplaceable physical and economic asset and <br /> resource of Orange County. <br /> • OrangeCounty has experienced a substantial:.inereas0in population as <br /> well as a large decrease in farmland since 1950. Such growth pressure <br /> is lik41y to continue in future decades. As a consequence, land prices <br /> and values have and will continue to escalate putting further economic <br /> pressure on County agriculture and increasing the cost of continued <br /> farm operations as well as acquisition of land for farm expansion. The <br /> encroa4hment of the non-farm population into farming areas will also <br /> increase the liklihood of nuisance complaints, vandalism, crop theft <br /> ;and dat4aage, crop and soil pollution, increased traffic and:othex impedi- <br /> ments to farm operations. <br /> . Major public projects proposed for Orange County will probably impact <br /> farm operations in the County directly through acquisition of farm prop- <br /> erty as well as indirectly by increasing the desireability of and <br /> access .bility to farming areas. These projects include the development <br /> of Seven Mile and Cane Creek Reservoirs; development of the Eno River <br /> State Park; construction of 1-40 and the southern By-pass of NC 54; <br /> and widening of 1-85. <br /> . Orange County's leading agricultural revenue producer, dairy farming, <br /> is concentrated in areas under increasing development pressure. Dairy- <br /> ing involves a large capital investment and, as such, it is more expen- <br /> sive to relocate such an operation in the face of development pressures. <br /> Poultry and egg operations are both potentially the subject of nuisance <br /> complaints from non-farm residents. <br /> . Inflation continues to place economic burdens on farmers in Orange County- <br /> POLICY OBJECTIVES <br /> 1. The problem of increasing tax burdens on agriculture should be alleviated. <br /> 2. The occurence of complaints and nuisance suits against farm operations <br /> should) be minimized. <br /> 3. The n gative impacts of proposed public projects on farming operations <br /> and o prime and locally important farmland should be minimized. <br /> 4. Relocation tion of farming operations due to non-farm development pressures <br /> should be minimized. <br />