To secure county certification as qualifying farmland, a farm must:
(A) Be able to provide documentation to substantiate that you are actively engaged in agriculture;
(B) Be certified by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly the Soil Conservation Service) of the United States Department of Agriculture as being a farm on which at least two-thirds of the land is composed of soils that:
(1) Are best suited for providing food, seed, fiber, forage, timber, forestry products, horticultural crops and oil seed crops;
(2) Have good soil qualities;
(3) Are favorable for all major crops common to the county where the land is located;
(4) Have a favorable growing season; and
(5) Receive the available moisture needed to produce high yields for an average of eight out of ten years; and
(6) Have been actively used in agricultural, horticultural or forestry operations as defined by G.S. § 105-2772 (1, 2, 3) during each of the five previous years, measured from the date on which the determination must be made as to whether the land in question qualifies.
(C) Be managed, if highly erodible land exists on the farm, in accordance with the Natural Resources Conservation Service defined erosion-control practices that are addressed to said highly-erodible land; and
(D) Be the subject of a conservation agreement, as defined in G.S. § 121-35, between the county and the owner of such land that prohibits non-farm use or development of such land for a period of at least ten years, except for the creation of not more than three lots that meet applicable county zoning and subdivision regulations.
(Ord. passed 3-16-2015)