CAMPBELL COUNTY - Farmers are being encouraged to enter into protective agricultural districts that stave off annexation by cities and provide financial advantages for not developing the land.

The Campbell County Conservation District is having a Farmland Protection Meeting at the Southern Campbell County Fire District at Alexandria Pike and Race Track Road from 7-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 29.

There are already 235 people in agricultural districts in Campbell County on land that comprises about 12,000 acres, said Linda Grizzell, a staff developer for the conservation district.

Joining an agricultural district helps farmers by making it difficult, or impossible, for a city to annex the farmland, Grizzell said.

Farmers can also receive a deferment for the costs of connecting to water lines if they are in an agricultural district. They don't have to pay for the lines, but if they sell the land to a developer later then the original cost of the water line extensions will have to be paid, she said.

To become an agricultural district there has to be 250 acres of farm land. But several adjoining land owners can join together as an agricultural district. The size of the average farm in the county is between 50 and 60 acres, Grizzell said.

"We encourage farm owners to join to try and protect their land and try to keep it agricultural as long as they can," she said.

There were 78,749 acres of Campbell County's total land area of 96,640 acres in farms in 1940. By 2002 there were 50,383 acres in farm land, according to the conservation district.

"If we keep developing we're not going to have that pretty rural place anymore," Grizzell said.

Pressure from encroaching development is nothing new for Lillian Shaw. Her family farm near Alexandria bordered by Enzweiler Road and Poplar Ridge Road was split in half when the AA Highway was built.

Shaw and her son John raise Black Angus cattle on their 90 acres. Some of the property is next to housing subdivisions, and there was talk that the City of Alexandria might annex the farm, she said.

So, about four years ago Shaw and some of her neighbors formed an agricultural district and any talk of annexing went away, Shaw said.

Shaw said she appreciated the conservation district's help with setting up the agricultural district.

"If we keep annexing, where are going to grow the food," she said.

Don Lloyd, 67, said he hasn't felt pressure from development, and that's because a majority of the 310 acres he farms and raises cattle is off Persimmon Grove Pike in the California area.

But Lloyd decided to make his farm an agricultural district anyway. The biggest benefit has been an increased access to information about farming practices, he said.

The primary concern is keeping the land as an active farm, Lloyd said. The outlook for that is promising because Lloyd's son Gary helps him with about half the work on the farm, and one of his two daughter's husband's has an active interest in farming.

"I'm going to keep it this way as long as I'm here," Lloyd said.