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Approved 12/12/16 OC Board of Adjustment – 10/10/16 Page 65 of 113 James Bryan: Right now you don’t have to. If you use his testimony you will have to have a finding that he 1 is an expert witness and that’s just a specialized knowledge more than the average person would have as 2 evidence through education, experience, and things like that. 3 4 Karen Barrows: Should we hear what he has to say? 5 6 Barry Katz: Yeah, sure. Let’s hear what he has to say. 7 8 Karen Barrows: Ok. 9 10 Andy Petesch: So could you just tell the Board quickly what you reviewed in preparation for today? 11 12 Erin White: Sure. I’ve looked at the General Statutes that have been discussed. The Orange County UDO, 13 the sections that have been listed in the brief. The Orange County Comp plan, especially section 6; the 14 agriculture section. And also, information about the barn; photographs, GI’s, mappings, site plans, and the 15 farm summary and agricultural census data. 16 17 Andy Petesch: And what about a document by the American Farm Land Trust? 18 19 Erin White: Yes. The American Farm Land Trust, which is a resource and advocacy group at a national 20 level, has put together a document called “Planning for our Agricultural Future”. It’s a guide for North 21 Carolina farmers and local government and they have some inaudible input on agritourism. 22 23 Andy Petesch: Would you please tell the Board what the challenges are for agriculture in this state, region, 24 and county? 25 26 Erin White: Sure. The main agricultural challenges for North Carolina, Triangle Region, and Orange County 27 also, are the ages of our farm population. The average age of farmers across all of North Carolina is in the 28 upper 50’s. Here in Orange County it’s about 58.9 years old. And so that presents challenges in finding the 29 next generation that will actually become our farmers. Another threat to agriculture are the patterns of land 30 development that include residential pressures to develop land. As land prices go up it’s much, much 31 harder for new farmers to get into agriculture. And as land prices go up existing farmers have an incentive 32 to sell out and new farmers have a disincentive to buy in because land is too expensive. We’re also 33 experiencing a cultural shift away from farming. We’re getting further and further away from our food as a 34 population. Most people, you hear stories about it all the time, have very little idea of where the food 35 actually comes from. And what this leads to is a lessening of value for rural lands across the Board . If 36 people don’t know where their food comes from and don’t understand farming then you actually see a 37 phenomenon whereas people don’t really value open space, rural areas and the rural character that defines 38 Orange County. And finally, there’s a globalized food system that’s built on economies of scale and federal 39 policy that decreases the competiveness of local farms. And so when you look at Orange County, which 40 has a strong agricultural heritage, all these challenges really conspire to make it difficult for Orange County 41 to look down the road at a future where agriculture is a big part of the economy and the landscape. 42 43 Andy Petesch: And what role does agritourism play in addressing those challenges? 44 45 Erin White: So with local farms facing lots of challenges then really the easiest way to measure that is in 46 profitability and if a farm can’t be profitable then it’s just not going to continue as a business. Agritourism 47 offers opportunities for farmers to supplement their on farm income. So not having to have an off farm job, 48 which more than half of Orange County farmers do. And make money doing other activities on their farm 49