North Carolina Voluntary Agricultural Districts Increase

Source from:  tobaccofarmquarterly.com March 28, 2006 03/29/2006

In the past two years, the number of North Carolina counties with voluntary agricultural district (VAD) ordinances has grown from one-third to nearly one-half of all counties in the state, according to a news release from the North Carolina Farm Bureau. The N.C. General Assembly passed the Farmland Preservation Enabling Act in 1986. The law enables county boards of commissioners to create Voluntary Agricultural Districts (VAD) and adopt special ordinances. Participating districts display road signs that point out to motorists that they are entering farm country. The program was created as a practical response to development growth in rural areas of the state. Some newly rural residents who bought homes near farmland were unprepared for the odors, dust and occasional loud noises that sometimes accompany production agriculture. Enditem