Grants awarded to protect N.C. farmland
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Western North Carolina is well represented in the more than $15 million recently awarded to protect working farms and forests, support county farmland preservation efforts and promote agricultural enterprises.
More than $12.8 million of the grants from the N.C. Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund went toward securing 46 agricultural easements on 5,000 acres of land across the state, permanently protecting these family farms from development as North Carolina Forever Farms. Of this amount, $4.2 million went toward conservation easements in Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Cherokee, Henderson and Buncombe counties.
Conservation easement awards in Western North Carolina include:
• Haywood Soil and Water Conservation District received four grants totaling $748,197.54 to protect 196 acres of working land on four farms.
• Macon Soil and Water Conservation District received $236,970.97 to preserve 17 acres of farmland.
• Mainspring Conservation Trust received four grants totaling $835,362.50 to protect 196 acres of working land on four farms in Cherokee and Jackson counties.
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• Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy received $492,050.50 to protect 489 acres of farmland in Haywood County.
• Southwestern N.C. Resource Conservation and Development Council received $120,812 to preserve 16 acres of working land in Haywood County.
• Buncombe Soil and Water Conservation District received three grants totaling $984,766.90 to preserve 246 acres of working land on three farms.
• Conserving Carolina received two grants totaling $759,245.00 to preserve 232 acres of working land on two farms in Henderson County.
