NOVEMBER 5, 2009 ISSUE
Watauga’s Future in Farming
Citizens Take Part in Visioning Workshop for County Ag Plan
Attendees of the October 29 community visioning workshop for a Watauga County farming plan discuss the challenges and opportunities for farming in Watauga. Many of the participants were local farmers. Photo by Anna OakesAbout 50 people participated in lively discussions about farming in Watauga County at a community visioning workshop held October 29 at the Watauga County Administration Building. The Watauga County Soil and Water Conservation District hosted the workshop to gather input for a plan intended to support the growth of farming and the availability of farmland in the county.
The plan, to be titled “Watauga County Farming for the Future: Shaping a Vision for a Vibrant Agricultural Economy,” is being funded through a $30,000 grant from the North Carolina Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund. Unique Places, a Durham-based development firm that specializes in a conservation-driven approach to real estate, has been hired to write the plan.
Brian Chatham, conservation technician with the Soil and Water Conservation District, presented an introduction to the plan and an overview of agricultural figures and statistics for Watauga County. David Harper of Unique Places assisted with facilitation of the workshop.
“Everybody’s input is welcome,” Chatham said. “We want farming to grow in Watauga County.”
Making the Case for a Plan
The number of farms in Watauga County dropped from 856 in 1997 to 587 in 2007, Chatham reported—a 31 percent decrease in 10 years. Farming acreage decreased 18,974 acres over the same period—a loss of 29 percent of farmland in the county.
Chatham also noted that North Carolina leads the nation in the number of farms lost.
As of 2007, Watauga County had 200 full-time farmers, while 387 farmers had other jobs as well. Income from farming in the county decreased from $13.3 million in 1997 to $11.5 million in 2007. The average age of farmers in the county has increased to 59.3 in 2007, up from about 56 in 2002.
Chatham, speaking before the meeting October 29, said the Soil and Water Conservation District and the Voluntary Agricultural District Board “decided that we need a protection plan.”
The county already has a Voluntary Farmland Preservation Program—adopted in 2000—that offers farmers certain benefits in exchange for signing a 10-year conservation agreement. As part of the program, landowners are prohibited from non-farm uses or development of their land for a period of at least 10 years. Participants are promised increased protection from nuisance lawsuits and other negative impacts, and they are not required to connect to water and/or sewer systems. In addition, public hearings are required on proposed condemnation of preserved land by state or local public agencies.
This new farming plan, however, will focus on the current agricultural economy and opportunities to make farming viable in Watauga County, stated Jim Bryan, a member of the Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors.
In highlighting opportunities for farming in Watauga, Harper pointed to a 2007 report by the Appalachian Sustainable Agricultural Project that found that 82 percent of survey respondents in Western North Carolina indicated they would buy more locally produced food if it were labeled as local.
What Will the Plan Look Like?
Staff has already completed GIS mapping indicating the locations of current farmland in the county. Chatham said the farming plan will likely include sections for goals, county agricultural assessments, community visions, strategies for strengthening the agricultural economy locally, strategies for helping keep farms in farming and maps of agricultural resources and priority areas.
Chatham said the plan aims to highlight growth patterns in agriculture in the county and help broaden the county’s agricultural markets. Another feature of the plan will be the development of a transition network to help young or beginning farmers find land for farming by highlighting land that owners want to maintain for farming uses. For example, an elderly farmer who wants to retire but would like to see his or her land preserved for farming could lease the land to a new farmer.
Some of the action items recommended in the plan may have to be adopted by the county commissioners, Chatham noted.
Watauga County will be the 11th county in the state to adopt such a plan. Counties that have adopted or are currently developing similar plans include Wayne, Alamance, Johnston, Transylvania, Stanly, Henderson, Durham, Chatham, Cherokee and Craven.
The Durham County Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Plan, which is also funded through an Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund grant, has been in the works since fall 2008, and a draft of the plan was recently published.
The Durham plan’s recommendations include expanding urban agriculture, linking landowners with new farmers, linking artists with farms, creating a “New Farmers Guide,” expanding community-supported agriculture programs (CSAs), creating a new agricultural zoning classification and increasing conservation easements on farmland. To view the draft of the Durham plan, click to www.co.durham.nc.us/departments/swcd.
Questions of Intention
At the workshop, Deborah Greene voiced concerns about the purpose of the farming plan. Her theory, she said, is that the plan will eventually lead to zoning of agricultural land for viewshed protection purposes, noting that the county is about to adopt a new Comprehensive Plan.
“I think that it’s a precursor to our land being zoned,” Greene said, which would prevent farmers from selling their land to residential or commercial developers and getting the best dollar for it.
“The land here’s too valuable for farming,” she said.
A letter to the editor written by Madeline K. Carter and published in the Watauga Democrat November 4 made similar assertions.
“The farmers and rural property owners need to get together as private groups, without interfering, heavy-handed government agencies, and form their own cooperatives to work together to solve their problems with real, profitable solutions,” Carter wrote.
But Bryan responded that the farming plan has nothing to do with zoning, and Chatham said, “We’re not telling you how to use your land.”
To close the meeting, Harper asked the attendees—somewhat rhetorically—to consider what would happen if they chose to do nothing and accept the status quo. Would they be OK with even more condos and developments moving onto farmland? he asked.
But Blake Brown, a member of the advisory council helping to create the farming plan, cautioned against preconceived notions about development as something that is negative. The increased success of farmers’ markets is due in large part to urban development, he noted. He said the plan should be careful to distinguish between two separate objectives—making farming more viable and preserving farmland.
Challenges/Opportunities for Farming
At the workshop, farmers completed questionnaires with questions about their farms and their plans for the future. The attendees then divided into small groups to discuss the challenges facing Watauga County’s farms and the opportunities for maintaining and enhancing farms in the county. Here’s what they said.
- CHALLENGES
-
high cost of owning/leasing land
- seasonal variations in temperature, weather, etc.
- lack of crop-specific research
- not knowing other producers
- lack of all-inclusive farm guide
- lack of profitable markets
- aging farmers; not economically viable for young people
- farmers lack control over prices, bargaining
- lack of available markets
- transitioning of land from retiring farmers
- OPPORTUNITIES
- connect available farmland to young farmers
- the CSA model: customers pay money up front and take in risk with the farmer
- develop a farm guide
- growing farmers’ markets
- find grant funding for enclosed facility for farmers’ market
- cooperatives between farmers and counties to pool resources
- local food is a growing trend/demand
- branding of local foods
- team up with ASU to utilize students, projects
- strong marketing efforts, e.g., Choose & Cut and Pick Your Own
The Next Steps
A second community meeting on the plan will take place in late winter or early spring 2010. By the third meeting, Harper said, the draft plan will include very specific recommendations. The plan is expected to be complete by late June or early July.
To complete a questionnaire, to submit comments for the plan or for more information, contact Chatham at 828-264-0842 or brian.chatham@nc.nacdnet.net.
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