A couple thousand people lined the streets of downtown Ellerbe on Saturday for their annual Farmer’s Day Parade.

“We had a great turnout,” Amy Yaklin, acting director of the Richmond County Farm Service Agency and parade board member said. “Lots of tractors, lots of entries and lots of people everywhere.”

The turnout at this year’s parade was about what organizers expected which was somewhere in the 3,000 attendants range.

This year, Yaklin said that more people brought in their classic cars and antique tractors than ever before.

“One guy even brought in nine old tractors,” Yaklin said.

The Richmond Senior High band, Shriners from Moore and Richmond County and even cloggers were parading through the streets of Ellerbe.

“How they can stand up there and keep going, I don’t know,” Yaklin said about cloggers dancing on the back of a parade float.

Parade organizers are already planning for next year’s event and are thinking about adding in an antique car show, according to Yaklin.

“We also hope we can reroute the parade through the middle of town next year,” Yaklin said. “We decided to try 58 days before (the date of the parade). The city requires 60.”

Farm City week continued into Monday with their Farmer’s Luncheon at the Co-op Extension Office on Caroline Street.

More than 60 farmers, agency representatives, state officials and county government members attended the luncheon.

DeWitt Hardee, NCDA, NC Farmland Preservation, spoke to the crowded Richmond County Agricultural Services Center.

The main focus was the formation of voluntary agricultural districts, which interim director, Page Burns and an ad hoc committee, are pushing to be put into place in Richmond County.

“It’s the reason Mrs. Burns asked me to come here today,” Hardee said during his presentation. “You’re not alone in this. I’m only encouraging you (attendees at the luncheon) to take the next step.”

Voluntary agricultural districts are essentially an officially sanctioned program which allows farmers in a community band together to form a larger, cohesive unit which can help in preserving property and land.

The VAD committee has four more meetings planned to raise awareness.

Other topics Hardee covered were the Farmland Protection Act, Agriculture Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Funds, Enhanced VADs and just how farmland in North Carolina is quickly dwindling away.

According to Hardee, between 2002 and 2007, North Carolina lost over 600,000 acres of farmland.

According to Hardee’s numbers, Richmond County currently has 278 farms with an average of 147 acres per farm. Although, the mean age of farmers has increased to 58.6-years old.

“Richmond County is going to become more important than ever because of its agriculture,” Hardee said.

Hardy also stated that numbers released from the state and the USDA point to North Carolina’s agricultural industry raking in over $70 billion in revenue.

“This county, believe it or not, is blessed,” Hardee said.

Farm City week continues tonight at 6:30 p.m. with a banquet at Cole Auditorium on the RCC campus.

Tickets are still available and cost $10, which includes dinner, a presentation and other entertainment.

n Staff writer Bryan Stewart can be reached at 997-3111 ext. 15 or by e-mail at bstewart@yourdailyjournal.com.