Through the collaborative partnership in North Carolina, led by the local Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) Board, Alamance County passed a Farmland Preservation Ordinance that allows the county to purchase and hold development rights on farmland.  Coupled with the creation of a local agricultural development and farmland protection plan, the VAD board is helping to assure that the county protects its valuable farming and environmental resources through a healthy and stable agricultural future. more

Agriculture in Chatham County is meeting the challenges of a changing landscape head on. The county, located on the edge of North Carolina’s rapidly growing Triangle region, is still largely rural with land prices far below those found in neighboring Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. Chatham’s farmers are anticipating the impacts that a high demand for residential development and the tobacco buyout will have on their agricultural sector, with its many small farms and heavy dependence on livestock production. Public agencies, private organizations and individual farmers are joining together to address these impending changes and create a vision for the next generation of farmers in the county. more