Iredell in Transition :: Powered by statesville.com and mooresvilletribune.com

Farmers face uphill battle as development eats open spaces

Bethany Fuller | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | April 29, 2008

Tractors, cattle and green space — they used to be common sights along any Iredell County road.

Now, local farmers can tell you who used to own the farm where the Wal-Mart Supercenter or Iredell Memorial Hospital now stand.

More than 30,000 acres of farmland in Iredell County have disappeared over the last 30 years, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. With today’s farm averaging about 100 acres, the loss rate is equivalent to 10 farms a year.

Farmers say what’s gone is gone.

“There is not going to be more farms in Iredell,” dairy farmer Jimmy Gray said. “We have a lot more neighbors than we used to have. The best thing we do is try to be the best neighbor we can.”

Among land, water and oil, farmers, homeowners and retailers are competing for the same resources, said North Iredell cattle farmer Sam Dobson.

“We are pioneers with this — it is a new issue,” he said.

And creeping development has some farmers on edge. It’s not the houses that are the problem, said cattle farmer Jim Dobson.

It’s the narrowing roads, people’s impatience when driving behind a tractor, mailboxes posted so close to the street that farm equipment can’t get by and people who like to use open farmland as their playground.

“Right here, we have good neighbors, but they don’t like to hear that cow bawl,” Jim Dobson said.

“I know when I ride around, it’s quite a bit different.”

Fight for survival
Land is becoming a precious commodity for farmers.

From 1978 to 2007, the number of farms and farmland both dropped 17 percent, according to the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service.

“Farmers are more of a manager than a laborer,” said Iredell County Cooperative Extension Services Director Ken Vaughn.

In order keep their farm running, some farmers need additional income or land.

Land leases, selling off a portion of the farm, working part time or finding a niche agribusiness market are fairly common ways farmers are using to survive.

“I’m concerned that the way things are going, how are we going to eat in the future?” said Donald Johnston, who raises beef cattle in the southern end of the county. “People take the most basic things for granted. It’s the oldest and most important issue in the world.”

Johnston sold his dairy equipment in 1991 and began working at Freightliner.

Law of the land
Many farmers don’t want to sell, and in order to combat the growth, they shield themselves from nuisance lawsuits by developing farmland preservation districts.

According to the cooperative extension, since Iredell County commissioners passed the county’s first Voluntary Agricultural Districts ordinance in 2001, about 86 farm owners have chosen the classification, which protects them from “smell and noise” lawsuits.

Commissioners approved a new farmland preservation ordinance in 2007 for farmers who sign up for a 10-year conservation easement. The farmers will be allowed to receive up to 25 percent of gross sales from the sale of non-farm products and still maintain the zoning exemption granted to bona-fide farming operations.

Vaughn said the preservation districts were put in place because farmers wanted to be identified and not overrun by the growth.

Several farmers receive almost weekly solicitations for their farms from developers, who identify large pieces of farmland by looking through the Iredell County Register of Deeds.

“Oddly enough in my situation, the majority of them come from California,” Snow Creek Road resident Sam Hall said. “I don’t respond well to them.”

Selling off the farm
Many farmers wonder what will happen to their farm, which usually has been in the family for at least three generations.

“We don’t find many young people going into it without any experiences because of the size and the financial commitment,” said Vaughn.

While some farmers are lucky and have children interested in continuing the family business, a lot of them realize when they retire or pass on, the farm will cease operation unless the land is leased out.

Hall said a high percentage of his farm is leased out to other farmers, although he has a few goats and raises timber.

Leasing is a cheaper option for farmers, primarily because buying land costs $8,000 to $10,000 an acre, said Jimmy Gray’s brother, Andy.

“It’s a little higher here than the extreme north,” he said.

Hall said children leasing out the family farm is a fairly typical occurrence and occasionally leads to the farm being sold to make way for a new development.

“When the parents die, the farm is left to the children. Capital gains, inheritance tax and other tax items force the land on the market,” Hall said. “They have to sell the best to pay the taxes to hold onto the worst.”

Andrew Crawford said his father sold a portion of the family farm back in 1972. Since then, the land on Crawford Road has become an industrial area.

Crawford said he sees the wisdom in what his parents did. After all, it made it easier for them to retire.

“I have every intention on selling this when the time comes,” he said. “It’s just progress.”

Photo: Located on Crawford Road, Andrew Crawford’s crops are limited to soy beans. On the other side of Crawford Road, the Crawford Road Business Park is home to some of Statesville’s largest manufacturing facilities, including ASMO. Bruce Matlock photo

Comments