APB meeting summary 09152021 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Orange County Agricultural Preservation Board Approved Meeting Summary: September 15th, 2021 ***Virtual Meeting via Zoom 6:30 p.m. Members Present: Anderson, McKnight, McPherson, Myers, Redding, Saiers,Woods Members Absent: Finley, McAdams, McPherson; Sykes Guests: None Staff: Jessica Perrin, Resource Conservation Coordinator-Orange Soil and Water; Peter Sandbeck, Cultural Resources Coordinator; Mike Ortosky,Ag Economic Development Coordinator 1. Call to order: Chair Redding called the meeting to order at 6:33 p.m. 2. Chair Comments/Introductions: None 3. Considerations of Additions to Agenda: Staff introduced Jessica Perrin,who was hired in June to fill Gail's position. She brings a strong background in soil conservation work in Durham and Wake counties along with prior experience with those VAD programs. A large part of her work with the VAD program is initially being spent reviewing all of Gail's files for recent and pending farms,to assist owners in completing all required paperwork. 4. Meeting Summary/Minutes: Staff apologized that the March 17 meeting minutes are not ready.The digital recording is not accessible due to the change from GoToMeeting to Zoom platforms; County IT believes it can provide staff with renewed access, so these minutes will be available for review and approval at the November meeting, if not before by email. We lack a quorum so couldn't approve now 5. Discussion Items: Staff noted that there are presently several farms that are in the VAD application process but none have completed all steps yet. Some farms should be ready for the November meeting. a) Dairy Subcommittee report and discussion: McKnight provided an overview of the current state of dairying in the county and a recap of the general thinking of the subcommittee.There is an assumption that our goal is to support existing dairy operations and foster and support the formation of new and more diverse dairy operations. But that raises the larger question: we need to examine our assumption. Do we think dairy farms can even survive here as the tide seems to be turning? Only the small dairy operations like Jeff's or hers seem to be viable. So do we want dairy farms here? If we do, are there people here that want to be dairy farmers—either newcomers or former dairy farmers? If there aren't any interested,that's an issue, as is land. If we have folks who are producing, can they market what they make? If not,that's a problem. Do we need to consider this on a more regional basis? For example, one of the farmers on the Durham Co.Ag Board is a small dairy farmer who has the same concerns, so maybe there is a collaborative approach. We also need to bring Marti Day into the subcommittee meeting. There is general consensus that traditional commodity dairying is just not viable here. Dairying only seems to be profitable on a very large scale. Ortosky noted that farmers respond to demand. If there is demand because people value the commodity,then farmers can act to fill that demand. Most consumers just buy milk and don't place