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25 <br /> To ease the challenges faced by would-be farmers like Saile, local conservation and <br /> agricultural groups are joining forces to preserve farmland in the Triangle and boost <br /> the region's agricultural industry. <br /> Conservation Trust for North Carolina, Community Food Lab, Triangle Land <br /> Conservancy and other groups recently created a strategy for conserving important <br /> farmland in Wake, Durham, Orange, Johnston and Chatham counties. They want to <br /> encourage more people to become farmers by helping both new and existing <br /> farmers succeed. <br /> The goal is not only to preserve working farms, but also to feed the growing <br /> demand for local food. Less than 0.1 percent of food spending in the region is <br /> direct farm-to-consumer, meaning there is much more potential, said Edgar Miller, <br /> government relations director for the Conservation Trust. <br /> Farmland Preservation <br /> Wake, Durham, Orange, Johnston and Chatham counties have lost about 15 <br /> percent of their farmland - more than 81,000 acres - since 1997. Now about a <br /> quarter of the Triangle is made up of agricultural land. 1 <br /> The conservation strategy, released earlier this year, identifies more than 50,000 <br /> acres of farmland in rural and urban areas that the groups deem "high priority," <br /> where joint conservation efforts would have the greatest benefit. <br /> Much of the highest priority farm land laid out in the report fell within southeastern <br /> Johnston, western Chatham and northern Durham and Orange counties, where <br /> larger, more traditional farms remain. But the plan also targets smaller properties <br /> on the fringes of Wake County. <br /> 58 the average age of a farmer in NC <br /> The groups seek to preserve at least 2200 acres of land in the Triangle, or 50 <br /> percent of the remaining farmland, for agricultural production. <br />