25-02-2025
New ag ordinance can benefit county's smaller farms
Feb. 25—Lee County commissioners are being asked to adopt a new agricultural ordinance that would update the current law and offer more options for small farming opportunities.
A public hearing on the proposal was held Monday at the commissioners' meeting where Bill Stone, director of the Lee County Extension Center, explained the changes in the updated ordinance.
The Lee County Voluntary Agriculture District Ordinance was adopted in 2013, creating a partnership between the county and landowners who were looking to protect and preserve farmlands.
However, after reviewing the changes allowed under the General Assembly's Farm Act of 2021, the Cooperative Extension staff recommended a new plan — the Agricultural and Farmland Preservation Ordinance.
"It's a positive way to promote agriculture," Stone said.
Three main changes are included in the proposed plan. One is eliminating the Agriculture Advisory Board-required membership based on districts.
Under the current ordinance, the districts are basically designated through townships, which Stone called "antiquated."
"What we found is that it restricted and kind of limited the pool of volunteer folks to serve on the board," he said.
The proposed ordinance will continue to focus on Voluntary Agricultural Districts and include the Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural Districts.
The EVAD ordinance requires a 10-year irrevocable agreement but would allow participating landowners to receive up to 25% of gross sales of non-farm products and still qualify as a bona fide farm under state law. Participants are also given priority in agricultural grants and cost-share program.
Landowners in the EVAD are also eligible for agricultural state grants and cost-share programs.
The proposed ordinance also drops the minimum acreage requirements from five acres to one acre for production of horticultural or agricultural purposes to qualify as a state bona fide farm.
"We are finding more and more consistently over the last five or 10 years. There's been a huge influx in small farms in Lee County," Stone said.
"What we have is that having that five-acre minimum can be very restrictive, certainly for some of our small farmers, especially for those folks that have demonstrated they can be profitable on small acreage," he said.
By lowering the minimum acreage from five to one, "we anticipate we'll see a lot more people participating which will be good for the county and the farmland and promoting the viability of agriculture," Stone said.
