Richmond County is moving forward with a plan to show its support for agriculture and agribusiness through the creation of voluntary agricultural districts.

It’s an effort the Richmond County Cooperative Agricultural Extension Office began working on last year, and one that won approval from the Richmond County Board of Commissioners at their meeting last week.

Interim County Extension Director Paige Burns explained voluntary agricultural districts advertise the community’s support of farming and offers some protection from farmers for facing nuisance lawsuits over the work they do.

“This is a program developed by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture to support and acknowledge our state’s agricultural heritage, and the importance of agriculture in our economy.”

Burns said most don’t realize it, but agriculture is far and away the state’s largest industry bringing in about $70 billion a year.

The state’s next largest industry is either tourism or the military, depending on the given year, which each bring in about $16 or $17 billion.

“Agriculture is kind of like the girl next door,” Burns said. “She’s there, she’s cute, she’s helpful, but everybody seems to go after the sexy new girl in town, whether that be tourism or bio-technology or whatever.”

She said the state’s largest industry is losing ground though.

“In North Carolina, which is one of the biggest agricultural states in the country, we have lost over 600,000 acres of farmland just in the last decade,” Burns said.

She believes the creation of these districts may stem the tide of farmers abandoning their land to nature.

“We’re selling our golden egg,” she said. “How are we going to be prosperous in the future if we continue to abandon what has made us prosperous?”

There was a series of informational meetings on the creation of the district held throughout the county last year, where Burns said the idea won wide acceptance.

Participating farmers would put a sign up in front of their farm, which, in addition to showing support, lets people who may be considering moving into the area know what they’re thinking about doing.

This aspect of the voluntary agricultural district is attractive to Derby’s Triple L Farms owner Jim Lambeth.

“I am interested in that protection,” Lambeth said. “It would let people know if they were thinking about coming here that there is a farm here.”

He pointed out farmers are exempt from zoning regulations, but still wants to avoid a situation where someone complains.

“If someone comes here from the city and wants to complain about our chicken houses, at least they’d know beforehand,” he said.

Burns said there are certain things that go along with a working farm - smells, vehicle traffic, etc. - that some would consider undesirable, and the creation of the districts does offer farmers some protection from lawsuits.

“For instance, if a farmer is spreading poultry litter and someone moves in beside him, they will know that this type of activity will be going on.”

Since winning approval from the county commissioners, the next step in the creation of voluntary agricultural districts will be the creation of an advisory panel to determine membership and other concerns.

“We are taking names of those who are interested in being on the committee,” Burns said. “The majority of the people on the committee must be farmers, and anyone who serves must live in Richmond County.”

Those who are interested in serving on the committee, or in signing their farm up for the voluntary agricultural district should contact Burns at 997-8255.

Staff Writer Philip D. Brown can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 32, or by e-mail at pbrown@yourdailyjournal.com.