Orange County NC Website
Attachment 1 <br /> Orange County Agricultural Preservation Board <br /> Approved Meeting Summary: November 20th, 2019 <br /> Environmental &Agricultural Center—Food Lab <br /> 306 Revere Rd., Hillsborough, NC <br /> 6:30 p.m. <br /> Members Present: Anderson, Compton, Dawson, Finley, McAdams, McKnight, McPherson, Parker, Ranells, <br /> Saiers,Vanhook <br /> Members Absent: Redding, Shambley,Woods <br /> Guests: Ashley Heger, Food Council Coordinator; Mart Bumgarner,Ag Extension Agent <br /> Staff: Gail Hughes, Resource Conservation Coordinator-DEAPR-Soil and Water; Peter Sandbeck, Cultural <br /> Resources Coordinator; Mike Ortosky,Ag Economic Development. <br /> 1. Call to order: Vice-chair McKnight called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. <br /> 2. Chair Comments/Introductions: McKnight recognized the guests and asked them to introduce <br /> themselves. <br /> 3. Considerations of Additions to Agenda: Hughes noted that she needs to discuss the process for removal <br /> of farms from the VAD program. <br /> 4. Meeting Summary/Minutes: September 18, 2019:Anderson moved to accept the minutes/summary as <br /> corrected; seconded by Compton; motion carried. <br /> 5. Discussion Items: <br /> a) Annual Report and Work Plan: Staff provided an overview of the Annual Report and Work Plan <br /> process.This is the most effective way for the APB to communicate with the County Commissioners <br /> about agricultural issues. Members discussed the draft report. Staff read suggested issues from an <br /> email from Chair Redding who could not attend tonight, including: runoff/erosion from various ag <br /> operations and water quality; ways to build on Annie's agritourism presentation at the breakfast; <br /> exploring how to conduct a survey of all the farmers in the county to learn what their needs and <br /> issues are now, in 2019—there is a need to reach out. Discussion followed. Dawson asked about the <br /> "biennial/triennial meeting of all of the county's agricultural boards and groups to discuss Ag issues" <br /> as stated on page 2.This has not been done for years and should be pursued again,to include <br /> representatives from: Extension Service, DEAPR, Soil and Water,APB, Farm Bureau, Grange, Food <br /> Council, Farm Service Agency and even the FFA teachers. A night meeting will bring more attendees, <br /> especially if good food could be served. This could be held at Schley or Mapleview. Members <br /> addressed other topics: providing a mechanism to allow the APB to really advise the BOCC on issues <br /> relating to agriculture, in advance of taking actions on such issues; and better coordination with the <br /> planning review process including the new farm affidavit form that planning uses to address the <br /> issue of"bona fide farm."The board could invite Patrick Mallett in planning to talk to us about that <br /> process. Suggestions were also made about some minor language updates. Members agreed that <br /> the report should reference the APB's strong support for the concept of the PUV Trust Fund <br />