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38 <br />State and County Involvement in FPP /Agriculture Districts <br />In any FPP local organizations play an integral and vital role. Counties <br />work with the state FPP to create agriculture districts in regions most critical for <br />protecting that county's prime soils and rural heritage. Counties use the <br />agriculture district and purchase of development right tools to protect their most <br />strategic farmland, while allowing growth to occur on farmland less important to <br />agriculture and the environment. Local organizations also usually decide on <br />target acreage of farmland that should be protected in that county. This target <br />acreage usually correlates with the amount of farmland the county needs to keep <br />agriculture a viable component of that county's economy. For example, <br />Baltimore County, Maryland has a goal of preserving 80,000 acres of their <br />farmland, while St. Mary's County, Maryland has a goal of preserving 17,000 <br />acres of their farmland. The county also has the option of raising additional <br />funds to match state funds in purchasing easements. Counties may receive <br />state FPP funding even if they do not have county funds for FPP. <br />In all state FPPs, establishment of agriculture districts is the first step. A <br />landowner must join an agriculture district before he or she can apply for selling <br />their development rights. This insures that the state /county concentrates its <br />efforts on protecting large contiguous blocks of agriculture on its prime soils. An <br />agriculture district may vary in minimum size requirements, depending on the <br />geographic region. For example, an agriculture district in the mountains may <br />have a minimum size of only 25 acres, whereas one in the coastal plain may <br />have a minimum size of 50 acres. All agriculture districts consist of a 10 -year <br />no- development zone. The placing of the farmland into agriculture districts <br />gives the county /state time to acquire the funds to buy the development rights, <br />and provides a staging area for delivery of related program incentives. <br />North Carolina's existing agriculture district statute differs from other state <br />programs in that it allows landowners to leave agriculture districts at any time. <br />This statute should be amended to restrict the ability to withdraw from an <br />agriculture district for 10 -year period be in line with the method used in all <br />other state PDR programs. <br />Other incentives should be established for entering into an agriculture <br />district. These should include state or county funding to help local government <br />and farmers create agriculture economic development plans, consistent state <br />and local agency policies to support farming in agriculture districts, local <br />planning requirements for agriculture districts, additional right -to -farm <br />protections, additional tax rollbacks /credits, agriculture impact statements for <br />public developments, limits on local governments ability to annex land in <br />agriculture districts, increased agricultural assistance programs (e.g., technical <br />assistance, cost - sharing), land use buffers required for development adjacent to <br />