It has been said many times that private ownership of land is fundamental for a free nation. That is why weekly we see adverts asking people to accept local, state, and federal dollars to convert their lands into conservation easements. The NC Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund just generously donated $345,000 of the state’s hard-earned money in order to allow a Buncombe County farmer to surrender in perpetuity the development rights on the land he now owns.

Hopefully, readers of this article will celebrate, embrace, empower, and synergize support for a bill moving through the General Assembly that would appropriate another $2 million of the state’s excess debt for similar expenditures. If teachers grow weary of going up on the chopping block, the state is near bankruptcy. A few more proposals like this might help it reach its goal. According to NC Agricultural Commissioner Steve Troxler, “Two million dollars is not going to go very far . . .” He believes the state should be creating ten times as many conservation easements as it now does. Since 2006, the trust fund has provided $1.27 million for preserving farmland and supporting agricultural markets in Buncombe County alone.

“It also helps leverage federal, state, and county dollars,” said the article, and “That really contributes to the [declining] local economy,” said the quote.