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County commissioners approve Farmland Preservation Resolution

 

COLUMBUS—At Monday’s Polk County Board of Commissioners meeting, the Board heard details of a study on land use in the area, approved the Farmland Preservation Resolution and adopted a resolution supporting Operation Greenlight.

Edward Olive, director of the Lois Brit School of Agribusiness at the University of Mt. Olive, presented the Cost of Community Services Study and shared details of its findings. 

 “What we do with a Cost of Community Services study is look at the money that comes in from three particular land uses: agriculture, forestry, and commercial/industrial/residential use.” 

These studies focus heavily on tracking the loss of agricultural land and projecting the financially negative impact that loss has on a county. 

“North Carolina, from 2002 to 2022, so 20 years, lost 11,117 farms, 950,000 total acres,” Olive shared.

Projections based on data from The American Farmland Trust “have predicted that North Carolina will be either the second or third top state that will lose farmland between now and 2045.” 

In that same 20-year window, Olive noted that Polk County increased the number of farms by 14 but lost 3,069 acres of farmland. Olive added that the study’s details were publicly available online.

Next, commissioners heard from a representative of the Foothills Regional Commission on a Farmland Preservation Resolution. 

The representative said this resolution would allow the Foothills Regional Commission to apply on the county’s behalf to receive money from the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Agriculture Trust Fund for an updated or new Farmland Preservation Plan. 

The resolution was adopted. 

Chairman Myron Yoder requested that the last agenda item, a resolution supporting Operation Greenlight, be added. 

The resolution proclaims Polk County as a “Greenlight” or Veterans’ County, declaring the period from October through Veteran’s Day a time to honor and celebrate those soldiers transitioning into civilian life. In observance of Operation Greenlight, Polk County encourages citizens to recognize the sacrifice of service members by “displaying green lights in the window of their businesses or residences from November 4 to November 11.” 

The resolution was adopted.

The meeting closed with selected comments and questions from the public, all praising the community’s efforts to recover from Helene.