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22 <br /> DRAFT/March 28,2025 <br /> Land use planning efforts in Orange County---like other counties experiencing <br /> rapid population growth---have historically deprioritized agriculture over other <br /> community needs such as housing and transportation. Further, in land use <br /> planning, farmland has often been conflated with other categories of open <br /> space such as parkland, natural areas, and wildlife habitats. The County can <br /> elevate the importance of agriculture in its land use planning by prioritizing it in <br /> the 2050 Land Use Plan, which is being developed at the time of this writing. If <br /> agriculture is to remain viable---and if the County is to sustain agriculture's <br /> economic, environmental, and cultural benefits and to support a resilient local <br /> food system---the County must plan for agriculture in the same way it does for <br /> other community needs. Planning efforts should be informed by the perspective <br /> that, while farmland can be considered a category of open space, its material, <br /> environmental, and economic contributions distinguish it from other categories <br /> of open space. Thus, farmland protection not only protects open space, it also <br /> facilitates continuance of the material, environmental, and economic benefits <br /> that farmland provides. Accordingly, Goal #1 of this Plan is to Plan FOR <br /> Agriculture: Elevate farmland stewardship to being a central consideration in <br /> land use planning and decisions. <br /> Goal 2: Conserve Farmland Through Direct Measures <br /> The most effective means of protecting farmland are direct measures: namely <br /> permanent agricultural conservation easements (Freedgood, 2020). Orange <br /> County's Lands Legacy program grants and administers conservation <br /> easements in the County as do nonprofit entities such as Triangle Land <br /> Conservancy, Eno River Association, and Working Lands Trust. The County also <br /> administers the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer <br /> Sciences Voluntary Agricultural District/Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural District <br /> (VAD/EVAD) program, in which farmer/landowners voluntarily protect their land <br /> from non-farm development for a period of at least 10 years. As of 2024, these <br /> programs have permanently conserved 3004 acres of farmland in the County <br /> and enrolled 155 farms comprising 14,864 acres in nonbinding conservation <br /> agreements. These numbers, while encouraging, can be improved. While a <br /> small minority (16%) of respondents to the 2023 Orange County Farmer and <br /> Landowner Survey had their land in a conservation easement, the topic of most <br /> interest for an informational or training session was preserving my land through a <br /> conservation easement (Appendix 1 for summary). <br /> Like agricultural conservation easements, farm transition or estate plans that <br /> provide for continuing operation of farms when owners retire or die are <br /> important tools for farm viability. Most farmers lack such plans (Upendram, 2021). <br /> The majority of Orange County farmers responding to the 2023 Orange County <br /> Farmer and Landowner Survey indicated an intention to keep their land in <br /> agriculture after they retire (Appendix 1 for summary). The most common plan <br /> for the future of farmland upon retirement was transfer to a family member for <br /> 20 <br />