Wilson County, NC Agricultural Development Plan
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Wilson County Agricultural Development Plan Sandy Maddox, Ed. D. December 2017 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................................... 4 Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 6 A Need for Action .......................................................................................................................................... 9 Overview of Wilson County ........................................................................................................................ 12 Wilson County Demographics ................................................................................................................. 13 Economy.................................................................................................................................................. 15 Cost of Services ....................................................................................................................................... 18 Infrastructure .......................................................................................................................................... 18 Education ................................................................................................................................................ 19 Natural Attributes ................................................................................................................................... 19 Soils ......................................................................................................................................................... 20 Forestry ................................................................................................................................................... 21 Wilson County: The State of Agriculture .................................................................................................... 22 Farmer Demographics ............................................................................................................................. 27 Farm and Forest Protection Programs ........................................................................................................ 29 Present-Use Value Tax Program ............................................................................................................. 29 Voluntary Agricultural Districts (VAD) .................................................................................................... 30 Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural Districts (EVAD) .................................................................................. 30 Conservation Easements ......................................................................................................................... 31 Term Conservation Easements ............................................................................................................... 32 Transfer of Development Rights ............................................................................................................. 32 Farm Transition Planning ........................................................................................................................ 32 Right-to-Farm Law................................................................................................................................... 33 N.C. Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund ............................................... 33 Challenges, Opportunities and Trends: Survey and Interview Results ....................................................... 34 Agriculture Producer Analysis ................................................................................................................. 34 Agribusiness Survey and Interview Analysis ........................................................................................... 42 Non-Farm Resident Survey and Interview Analysis ................................................................................ 47 2 Recommendations ...................................................................................................................................... 51 Recommendation One: ........................................................................................................................... 51 Recommendation Two: ........................................................................................................................... 54 Recommendation Three: ........................................................................................................................ 55 Recommendation Four: .......................................................................................................................... 57 Recommendation Five: ........................................................................................................................... 59 Recommendation Six: ............................................................................................................................. 60 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 62 References .................................................................................................................................................. 63 Appendixes .................................................................................................................................................. 66 Wilson County Producer Survey ............................................................................................................. 66 Wilson County Agribusiness Survey ........................................................................................................ 79 Wilson County Non-Farm Resident Survey ............................................................................................. 89 3 Acknowledgements The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund (ADFP) awarded a grant to the University of Mount Olive’s Lois G. Britt Agribusiness Center to create Agricultural Development Plans for Chowan, Currituck, Pasquotank, Perquimans and Wilson counties. ADFP promotes these plans as comprehensive guides for counties or governments to protect and preserve farms and forests, which contribute to the economy and quality of life in eastern North Carolina. This plan was written by Dr. Sandy Maddox. Dr. Maddox has an Ed. D. from N.C. State University and served with N.C. State University in both research and extension. She additionally served the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in the Research Stations Division until retirement in 2007. Since that time she has provided leadership to the Lois G. Britt Agribusiness Center at the University of Mount Olive and serves as chair for the Division of Agriculture at the university. The following agencies and individuals assisted with the development of this plan and the concurrent Cost of Community Services Study: North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Wilson County Center Wilson County Board of Commissioners Wilson County Manager North Carolina Forest Service Lois G. Britt Agribusiness Center, University of Mount Olive The citizens, farmers and agribusinesses of Wilson County 4 This project was funded by the North Carolina Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund 5 Executive Summary Wilson County has a viable agricultural sector that is an important part of the total county fabric of life. The goal of this Agricultural Development Plan is to reflect the importance of agriculture and assess the opportunities, challenges and issues that are currently facing the industry. This plan provides recommendations, based on input from members of the agricultural community as well as Wilson County non-farm residents on ways to enhance agriculture, forestry, agribusiness and agritourism. Farmland is an irreplaceable natural resource, and the farmers who are stewards of this resource impact the economy and quality of life for all county residents. The economic impact of the agriculture sector in 2012 was 37.7 percent of the county‘s value added total income. The agricultural sector also accounts for 11.2 percent of Wilson County’s total employment (Walden, 2015). Wilson County has the resources, human and natural, to ensure that agriculture can prosper in the future. The impact of agriculture in Wilson County in 2012: *Agriculture and agribusiness contributed $2,514,082,618 in total value added income *Wilson County ranked 2nd in the state in sweet potato production *Wilson County ranked 5th in the state in flue-cured tobacco production *Wilson County ranked 4th in the state in nursery, greenhouse and floriculture *In total cash receipts from crops produced Wilson County ranked 4th in the state and 25th in the state for total cash receipts from agricultural products Wilson County is experiencing modest population growth, but the growth is occurring in a section of the county that results in competition of land uses. Seventy-seven percent of county farmers surveyed lacked sufficient land to expand or diversify their operations. Sixty-six percent indicated that competition for available land is a major concern for the