Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
5 <br />Page 4 <br />• Creating links with organizations that support farming; <br />• Supporting marketing and consumption of local farm products; <br />• Surveying local citizens' needs /desires for farm products. Strayhorn noted <br />that some of these goals are being met through the Junior Livestock Shows, <br />4 -H Program, and that this year's show is number 56 where a community <br />barbecue is held hosting over 400 people. <br />A general overall statement such as "Everyone has to eat and drink and wants a <br />good quality`of life was suggested. Agriculture has a direct impact on every <br />person in the county and that these three things are fundamental to the pursuit of <br />happiness for everyone" was suggested as being included <br />After discussion, staff will draft the ideas from tonight's meeting, distribute in the <br />agenda packet for the next meeting for final revision and adoption. <br />b. Plan of Action -New Consensus for Farmland <br />Stancil noted it is a possibility that this maybe postponed due to so many other <br />things going on such as the proposed bond referendum, elements to <br />comprehensive plan, Lands Legacy program and other things. A proposed <br />"game- plan" was distributed and reviewed as a handout with objectives and <br />times. The APB decided the time line was short for all the objectives. Kleese <br />suggested a fall festival to stimulate people to come to the stakeholder group <br />meetings. <br />A discussion of the stakeholder groups to be invited to a kickoff meeting <br />concluded noting that most every group is covered under the list. It was agreed <br />that consumers should be added to group of Farm Supplies & Businesses. A <br />member of the APB should sit in on each group at the meeting. A letter of <br />invitation with explanation of stakeholder groups including a mission statement <br />and short -time frame goals, emphasizing the importance of agricultural center. <br />Stancil emphasized two distinct tasks of this goal, stakeholder group work and <br />the work group that gets formed to develop preservation policy. The stakeholder <br />groups to meet twice to identify key.issues of farmland preservation and discuss <br />Ag Center. Limiting the discussion to those tasks will produce a blueprint for the <br />future Work Group to use for developing a policy. Following that step, the group <br />findings to be complied by the APB liaison and reported back to the APB <br />followed by report to BOCC. After the BOCC reviews the stakeholder findings, <br />they will appoint a short -term Work Group, comprised of APB members and <br />Stakeholder participants, to develop guidelines for official County Farmland <br />Preservation Policy document. This Work Group will have a starter list of topics <br />for.research and could meet four times to complete the task. These guidelines <br />then reported to the BOCC followed with the APB using the guidelines and <br />Draft 1/31/2001 <br />