Agenda - 08-24-1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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114 trend toward increasing farm size. The same holds true for counties which have adopted PDR programs (wake, Forsyth, and Mecklenburg) and those with voluntary agricultural district programs (Buncombe and Rowan). Average Farm Size (Acres) County 1987 1982 1974 1969 Alamance 122 118 108 103 Durham 103 135 140 113 Person 212 171 129 131 ORANGE 155 151 139 124 Chatham 117 115 129 119 Caswell 184 163 141 132 Wake 128 125 116 111 Forsyth 75 67 69 62 Mecklenburg 103 107 118 121 Rowan 131 134 125 110 Buncombe 87 73 77 62 Buncombe County, with an average farm size of 87 acres, requires a total of 100 acres of contiguous qualifying farmland for designation as an agricultural district. Rowan County requires 200 acres and has an average farm size of 131 acres. In both counties, two or more farms totaling 100 and 200 acres, respectively, may form a district if the farms are within one mile of each other. Orange County's ordinance requires that the farms be contiguous. The enabling legislation [G.S. 106 - 738(1)] requires that an ordinance must provide for the creation of districts consisting initially of at least a number of contiguous acres of qualifying farmland or a number of qualifying farms deemed appropriate by the Board of Commissioners. While the 155 -acre threshold was adopted, suggestions were made during the public hearing process to set the threshold at a minimum to recognize farm operations such as those which raise specialized produce (squash, green beans, sweet corn, cucumbers, cantaloupe, tomatoes, strawberries, and pumpkins), livestock (sheep, goats, and horses), and flowers. The 1987 Census of Agriculture bears out this suggestion, including the comment that there are more smaller farms with greater amounts of acreage in large farms.