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4 <br />measures and the annual budget cycle was finalized, <br />the Board of Commissioners reconstituted the <br />Agricultural Districts Advisory Board and charged it <br />with the responsibility of achieving the goal. The <br />Advisory Board initiated its work during the <br />following month. <br />Program Pro osals <br />As it began its work, the Agricultural Districts <br />Advisory Board.focused on the successful program <br />implemented by Forsyth County. Since the first <br />purchases in 1987, Forsyth County had acquired <br />development rights to 19 farms with a total of 1,192 <br />acres. The County acquired these rights through <br />purchases and leases for a total of $1.71 million or <br />an average of approximately $1,500 per acre. <br />As Forsyth County had done, the Agricultural <br />Districts Advisory Board started with the most basic <br />question - How does one go about deciding which <br />farms should have priority in terms of PDR? <br />The method recommended by the Agricultural Districts <br />Advisory Board,is through evaluation of farms using <br />the Soil Conservation Service's LESA system. The <br />LESA system refers to the Land Evaluation and Site <br />Assessment system developed by the Soil Conservation <br />Service in the mid- 19801s. The two --part system for <br />evaluating farmland has been used extensively and <br />focuses on the quality or productivity of a given <br />site; e.g., land evaluation, and its continued <br />economic viability; e.g., site assessment. The major <br />advantage to such a system is that the most <br />productive and economically viable farmlands are <br />preserved for future generations. Other benefits <br />include the use of the system in identifying <br />important farmlands and potential agricultural <br />districts,' and preparing and updating comprehensive <br />land use plans. (The development of a LESA system <br />for Orange County is discussed in detail in Report <br />#1.) <br />Another basic question was - How would a PDR Program <br />operate? Using the Forsyth County program as a <br />model, the Agricultural Districts Advisory Board <br />identified the following major features: <br />1. The program would be voluntary, and the <br />farmland owner would decide whether or not to <br />participate. <br />2. The farmland owner would be compensated for the <br />sale of the development rights and retain title <br />and all other rights to his /her land. <br />