Farming Sees Brighter Future (complete article from source)
Source: The Durham News, by Jim Wise
May 02, 2009
New market for 'locally grown' gives craft wider appeal
Jennifer Brooks says agriculture is coming back in Durham County.
"I think it's on the very start of a turnaround," said Brooks, with the Durham Soil and Water Conservation District.
Numbers bear her out. In 1997, there were 159 farms in Durham County. In 2007, there were 242, according to the federal Census of Agriculture.
And it's agriculture in transition.
Time was, tobacco dominated Durham County cropland. Today, the fields are more likely hay, wheat and corn -- or pasture for cattle, goats or sheep.
"It's making a transformation," said Gerry Cohn, a consultant on farmland preservation. "From tobacco and field crops to more specialty items."
Agriculture's turnaround is due in large part to market forces: the popularity of farmers' markets such as those in Durham, Carrboro and Hillsborough; and restaurateurs who distinguish their businesses by using locally produced vegetables, meat and dairy products.
And then there are young people who want to go back to the land, older people who want to stay on the land.
"There is no place that I'd rather be," said Douglas Daye, whose farm near Rougemont has been in his family since 1905. "My roots are here."
And some people who want to see land to stay just -- land.
It's a trend Durham County authorities want to see continue. Besides putting money into the county economy, farmland helps deter sprawl and protect watersheds. The sight of open spaces and the taste of fresh air gives city folk a sense of tranquility -- as some of the Durham County commissioners found on a recent farm tour.
"I feel like I've died and gone to heaven," said Chairman Michael Page. "This is beautiful."
More than 80 percent of county residents live inside the Durham city limits, but about two-thirds of the county's 290 square miles remain farmland and woods. Most of that open space is in the north, above the Eno River, and in the east, between Interstate 85 and U.S. 70 toward the Wake County border.
On the county's zoning maps, that land is designated RR -- "rural residential" -- and the same, or "open space" on the comprehensive land-use plan. That implies an expectation for eventual development and, even at very low density, houses aren't the same as farms.
"I don't want them ever to build," said Roger Tilley, whose farm near Rougemont has been in the family since the 1700s. "I want to try to save what I can."
Most of Tilley's land is under a conservation easement. Durham County began actively protecting farmland in 1996, with a Farmland Protection Program. To date, 402 acres are under easements, with 1,358 more in the process, said Jane Korest, real-estate and open-space manager. Besides keeping farmland farmland, easements keep tax assessments based on agricultural use no matter what subdivisions go up nearby. And, they get paid the difference between their land's fair market value with and without the easement.
Even for preservation-minded farmers, though, it's a hard sell to dedicate land forever.
"It's such a good deal, you often say, 'I don't understand why this isn't moving,'" said County Manager Mike Ruffin. "Well, it's the trust that has to be built.
"The relationship-building that's required in order to convince a family ... to make that decision. ... That's what takes so long."
Preserving land is one thing, preserving farmers another. The average age of a Durham County farmer is 57.
"What's going to happen in the next 10 years? Ain't going to be no farmers," said Edgar Johnson, who manages 127 acres of farmland in Durham County.
For would-be farmers, the obstacles are formidable. Startup cost is $250,000 at minimum, said Tony Kleese, an agricultural educator and entrepreneur in Orange and Chatham counties.
"Where's a kid right out of [agriculture] college going to get that kind of money?"
To help replenish the farm population, Durham County is preparing a plan to address both land use and farm economics.
"Those are the two pieces of it that go hand in hand," said Cohn, who is researching the subject and will be drafting the plan by the end of the summer."
"If you don't have a stable land base, you're not going to have successful agriculture," he said. "If you don't have profitable opportunities, there's going to be no reason for people to hold onto that land, keep it in farm use."
"If this plan is successful, we can drop that average age of the farmer the next time the census comes around. If we can get new people into ag, see that average age going down, that's what we're trying to get done."
And, all in all, signs are bullish.
In 1997, 74 of Durham County's 159 farmers listed farming as their primary occupation; in 2007, there were 118 full time. Farmers' markets prosper, local produce brings premium prices, and there is activity in the neighborhood -- such as Orange County's training program for fledgling farmers, and an agricultural processing center just opened in Hillsborough.
"Durham County agriculture is is still alive and well," Cohn said.
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