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IRNATI AS i FIELDS FOREVER <br />Kandall Moore, the 13- year -old grandson of Durham County farmer Howard Moore, tries to coax a cow and <br />horse into their pen on the Moore family's farm, which Howard Moore wants to protect from development. <br />BY BARBARA BARRETT <br />STAFF WRITER <br />For Howard Moore, the symbol of the <br />future sits in his carport: a stout, 1960s- <br />era McCormick Farmall Super A trac- <br />tor, buffed to a shiny, new-on- Christ- <br />mas red. <br />Moore drove the Super A on his 25- <br />acre cattle farm on South Lowell Road <br />in Durham County. Today, his son lives <br />on the farm and drives the tractor. And, <br />God willing, his grandson will drive it- <br />someday, too. <br />To make sure of that, Moore, at age <br />77, is poised to become the first farmer <br />in the Triangle to turn over develop- <br />ment rights on his land to a county <br />government. But the unyielding atti- <br />tude that carries farmers through <br />tough harvests has made Moore sus- <br />picious of the contract with Durham <br />County. <br />For now, he will not sign. <br />"We never talked about these restric- <br />tions before," Moore said; nodding at <br />the papers that would not only keep <br />his farm from ever being developed but <br />might also, he fears, put too many <br />restrictions on his descendants. <br />That's how it often works with per- <br />manent easements, and it's one of the <br />main reasons Triangle counties haven't <br />had much success with farmland <br />preservation ordinances, some of <br />which have been gathering dust for <br />years. <br />Preservation programs, also in place <br />in Wake and Orange counties, are sup- <br />SEE FARMS, PAGE 6A <br />'I'm not going t® make it <br />restrictive so they can't do what <br />they want t® ado.' <br />Howard Moore <br />