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17 <br /> FINAL DRAFT-5-27-26 <br /> 3. Challenges to Agriculture in Orange County <br /> The main challenges to agriculture in Orange County are farmland conversion <br /> to development and poor economic viability of farming. These challenges, <br /> which Orange County shares with the state and the nation (Freedgood, 2020), <br /> are longstanding and have intensified in recent years (Orange County, 2009). <br /> They interrelate with additional challenges including the impact of climate <br /> extremes on farming and the aging of the farming population. <br /> Challenge: Orange County is losing its farmland to development. <br /> With excellent agricultural soils and gently rolling terrain, Orange County lies in <br /> the heart of the Piedmont of North Carolina, an agricultural state with a <br /> preponderance of Nationally Significant farmland, defined as that best suited <br /> for long-term, intensive production of crops (Freedgood, 2020). Approximately <br /> three-fourths of the County's land area comprises Prime Farmland or Farmland <br /> of Statewide Importance (Orange County, 2009). Prime Farmland is defined by <br /> the US Code of Federal Regulations as land that "has the best combination of <br /> physical and chemical characteristics for producing food, feed, forage, fiber, <br /> and oilseed crops, and is also available for these uses" (US Code of Federal <br /> Regulations, 2024). Farmland of Statewide Importance is defined as lands that <br /> are generally "nearly prime farmland and that economically produce high <br /> yields of crops when treated and managed according to acceptable farming <br /> methods" (US Code of Federal Regulations, 2024). <br /> From the 1750s through the 1950s, most of Orange County's land was in farms <br /> (Orange County, 2009). With population growth and the addition of new <br /> residents in the 1960s and 1970s, acreage in farms declined steadily and <br /> dramatically---a trend that continues to this day. The significant, continued loss <br /> of farmland constitutes a threat to food security and agricultural security in the <br /> County. According to US Census of Agriculture data based on farmer/producer <br /> self-reports, approximately 146,000 of the County's 255,000 total acres was in <br /> farms in 1959. Acreage in farms decreased to 71 ,010 by 2002 and to 53,068 by <br /> 2022 coincident with accelerating population growth (Agricultural Census, 2022; <br /> carried out by the USDA every 5 years). [Photos 4 and 5] Consistent with the <br /> census data, a satellite-imagery-based study undertaken by the Farmland <br /> Stewardship Subcommittee of the Agricultural Preservation Board in <br /> collaboration with the Orange County Planning Department demonstrates a <br /> decrease in land devoted to row crops (excluding grassland and forestland) <br /> and an increase in developed land during the period from 2017 to 2022. <br /> 15 <br />