NC on pace to lose more farmland development than any state by 2040, study says

If one thing is certain for the future, it’s changing. In North Carolina, residents see that change all around us: New communities, new roads, and in many instances, a new way of life.

While North Carolina's growth is good, it can potentially be detrimental to the farmers of the state.

For Neill Lindley, a dairy farmer in Chatham County, three things have always been certain in life: Death, taxes and farming.

The fourth-generation dairy farmer has put everything into the family’s 187-acre property, but there’s a growing concern that his farmland may dwindle in the future.

“Dairy farmers are [being] forced out,” Lindley said “There are dairy farms all over the county and country where there are beautiful farms that have weeds growing up the silos, and that’s sad to me.”

According to a study by the American Farmland Trust, North Carolina could lose roughly 20% of its 8 million acres of farmland to development happening across the state by 2040.

It’s a number that has North Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler concerned.

”It’s an issue that does keep me up thinking at night,” Troxler said. “If we don’t have the natural resources, there’s no way we can produce the food supply we need, not only for North Carolina but for the rest of the nation and the world.”

Programs like the North Carolina Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund aim to curb the issue by supporting the purchase of agriculture conservation easements.

This ensures that certain farmland can’t be developed, which protects one of the leading economic drivers in the Tar Heel State.

In Chatham County, they’re hiring a new position called the Farmland Preservation Coordinator. The hope is that it’s another step to help maintain family farms and forests in the area.

“Agriculture fuels the rural economies of North Carolina,” Troxler said. “We’re the number one industry in the state, and we just surpassed $100 billion in economic activity.”

Both Troxler and Lindley understand that development can’t be avoided, but they hope more people will understand the significance of farmland in the years to come. Whether it’s food supply, economic growth, or the upholding of generations of tradition—every acre makes a difference.

“To be here for so many years…I want to pass that on,” Lindley said.