RALEIGH – Members of county agriculture advisory boards and others involved in farmland protection efforts can pick up tips about setting up Voluntary Agricultural Districts at upcoming workshops in Burke and Johnston counties.

The following workshops will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.:

• Thursday, Feb. 12, at the Burke County Ag Center in Morganton;
• Tuesday, Feb. 24, at the Johnston County Ag Center in Smithfield.

The sessions will focus on Voluntary Agricultural Districts. A VAD is a planning tool that provides recognition of farming in communities.

The workshops are free, but donations will be accepted for lunch. To register or obtain more information, contact Holly Gilroy at the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services at (919) 733-7125 or holly.gilroy@ncagr.gov.

At the workshops, members of VAD advisory boards and other interested persons can learn from one another how they might en­hance their county’s efforts to protect farmland and help local agricultural economies develop, said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler.

“VADs are valuable tools for helping farmers and landowners keep land in agricultural and forest production,” Troxler said. “In 2002, 33 counties had adopted VAD ordinances. Today, 67 counties have these ordinances. What we really need, though, is for all 100 counties in North Carolina to establish Voluntary Ag Districts.”

The workshops are sponsored by the N.C. Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund, the state’s Soil and Water Conservation districts, the N.C. Farm Transition Network, N.C. Cooperative Extension, N.C. Farm Bureau, the U.S. Cooperative Research, Education and Extension Service, and the Southern Region Risk Management Education Center.

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