Agenda - 03-24-1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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A. B. M PURPOSE The purpose of voluntary agricultural districts is to increase identity and pride in the agricultural community and its way of life, and to increase protection from nuisance suits and other negative impacts on properly - managed farms. (The statement of purpose is identical to that contained in G.S. 106 -738 (b).) REQUIREMENTS _FOR INCLUSION IN A VOLUNTARY AGRICULTURAL DISTRICT 1. An agricultural district shall initially consist of: a. At least 155 contiguous acres of certified qualifying farmland; or b. At least two or more certified qualifying farms, contiguous to each other, which will create a district of not less than 155 acres. 2. The owners of the qualifying farmland must execute an agreement with Orange county to sustain agriculture in the District. 3. Qualifying farmland may be added to existing districts upon execution by the owner of an agreement to sustain agriculture. 4. In the event that one or more participants in the District withdraw and the acreage in the District becomes less than the minimum acreage required or results in the remaining land being non - contiguous, a voluntary agricultural district will continue to exist so long as there is one qualifying farm. (The above provisions are modeled after the basic requirements contained in G.S. 106 -738 (a). The number of acres of qualifying farmland (155) was derived from the 1987 Census of Agriculture and represents the average farm size at that time. The 1987 average represents a slightly higher farm size than in 1982 when the average size was 151 acres. The distribution of farms according to size in 1987 is shown on the following page. The 1987 Census of Agriculture figures indicate that the majority of farms (56.5 %) are less than 100 acres in size. However, these farms comprise only 16.2% of the farmland in the county. Thus, the focus of the program is on encouraging large farms to participate. To allow smaller farms to participate, an additional provision was added to allow smaller farms to request district designation. For example, two farms of 78 acres each, three farms of 52 acres each, or one farm of 50 acres and one farm of 105 acres could join together to make such a request. The only stipulation is that such farms be contiguous.