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30 They talked about it with AFT. They talked about it with their board mem- bers. Before long, they had enough sup- port to form the Oconee County Partnership for Farmland Protection in 1999. The partnership includes the local Chamber of Commerce, Soil and Water Conservation District, Farm Service Agency, RC &D Council, Cooperative Extension and the J. Phil Campbell Sr. Natural Resource Conservation Center. Their first move was to send a survey to 275 of the county's landowners. The RC &D Council picked up the tab. It was a three- question survey that asked the landowners whether they support the need for a voluntary farmland protection program (72 percent said they strongly support it), whether they would support the use of federal, state, local and private funds to pay for the program (51 percent said they strongly support this) and why they think farmland is important (the top answer was "sustainability for agricul- ture"). "We did the survey because we want- ed to see how the landowners thought about the topic of farmland protection," Meek said. "We thought that we had not yet shown that this is an issue a lot of people care about. The survey helped us with that. It helped us lay the foundation. Now we are building on it:' Since then, the partnership has creat- ed a mission statement and hosted two workshops for the general public. AFT arranged for Wayne McGinnis, a Baltimore County, Md. farmer and recip- ient of AFT's annual Steward of the Land Award, to speak at one workshop. McGinnis spoke about why he protected his farm and his experience in chairing the state's PDR board. The other work- shop featured an AFT staffer who spoke about national trends in farmland protec- tion. "We decided to bring in AFT because we like the organization's research and publications," Meek said. "They are objective. AFT just states the facts. In the long run, that helps us gain credibility." AFT's Southeast Regional Office continues to provide valuable guidance and technical assistance to the 20 county, he said. As a result of the workshops, the county commissioners are more open to the partnership's goal of creating a vol- untary program to protect farmland. Also, a second survey is in the works and the partnership is working with several other entities, including AFT, to plan a statewide farmland and open space con- ference in Oconee County on October 27. Members of the partnership are being invited to neighboring counties to give tips on how to get started and they are making trips to the state capital to promote the idea of a statewide farmland Community activists: Top - Charlie Meek in Georgia. Bottom -John Holloway with son, Matthew, in Wisconsin. protection program. It is one of the most successful farmland protection partner- ships in Georgia. "It has turned into much more work than we ever dreamed of," Meek said. "We had hoped that somebody else would carry the torch by now. That hasn't happened, but we are not going to give up. Our philosophy is that we can- not give up. We have to at least give it our best try." Not surprisingly, what drives Wood, Meek and others who are volunteering their time to save land in their communi- ties is a passion for farms and farming. Without that, none of the tools they use at the grassroots level would be effective. John Holloway knows this. He is working almost single - handedly to get a PDR program started in his hometown of Paris, Wisconsin, which is located in an area ranked by AFT as the nation's third most threatened agricultural region. It helps that he is the chairman of the township's planning commission. That gives him direct access to the peo- ple in the township who make land use recommendations. He has been feeding them farmland protection articles for nearly 10 years. It helps, too, that he comes from a family of activists. As he watched his father fight for agricultural zoning in the township years ago, he learned the value of being patient. But what keeps him motivated is his love of the land. "I have lived here all my life and I know that this is the only option for us right now," said Holloway. "I believe in what I am doing, which makes it easier to convince farmers that this is the right thing to do." Holloway is working with AFT's Upper Midwest Regional Office to pro- mote PDR. He has invited Ed Minihan, the office's regional director, to the town- ship to make several presentations. And he has brought several township officials to Dunn Township, Wisconsin, to learn how the state's first PDR program was created. The program was created under the leadership of Minihan, who also is a township supervisor. Holloway is in the process of raising funds to hire AFT to help the township create a PDR pro- gram. "I wish Ed Minihan was our town- ship chairman," said Holloway. "But since I know we cannot have him, it's at least good to know AFT is there to help us." Cq For information on AF7's consulting services, call Fill Schwartz, director of marketing, at (202) 331 -7300, ext. 3011 or e-mailjschwartz@farmland.org.