Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) Program

What is the Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) Program? . . . .

The purpose of the Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) Program is to encourage the voluntary preservation and protection of farmland from non-farm development. This is in recognition of the
importance of agriculture to the economic and cultural life of the country. The General Assembly of the State of North Carolina authorized counties to undertake a series of programs to encourage the preservation of farmland. This statutory authority is found in Chapter 106, Article 61, of the North Carolina General Statutes. The Duplin County Voluntary Agricultural Districts will be governed by an Agricultural Board composed of one member from each of the six County Commissioner districts. These members will be appointed by the Duplin County Board of Commissioners. In addition, the County Extension Director and County Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Director will serve as members of the Board. The Agricultural Board will be responsible for approving applications for membership in an agricultural district.

Requirements
To be qualified as farmland, a farm shall contain a minimum of 10 contiguous acres of farmland.

1. The farm shall be participating in the “Farm Present-Use-Value Taxation Program”.
2. The property shall be certified by the Cooperative Extension Service and NRCS as being a farm on which at least two-thirds of the land is composed of soils that are:
   1. favorable for major crops common to the County; or
   2. soils on which at least two-thirds of the land has been actively utilized for agricultural,horticultural, forestry, livestock, or wildlife production.
3. Property is the subject of a Conservation Agreement between the County and the owner of such land that prohibits non-farm use or the development of such.

What will joining the VAD Program do for me?

1. This program will help increase the identity awareness and pride in the agricultural community and its way of life.
2. Members will have increased protection from nuisance law suits and other negative impacts affecting participating farms.

What is the cost of this program?

There will be a one-time fee of $60.00 to join this program. This fee will cover a portion of the cost of a sign which designates a farm’s membership and the charges involved in filing the document with the Duplin County Register of Deeds Office.

For more information contact

Duplin County Cooperative Extension Service
165 Agricultural Drive
P. O. Box 949
Kenansville,N. C. 28349

Phone: (910) 296-2143

Download the Pre Application form for VAD here

Complete the form and mail it to the address above or email it to: wanda_hargrove@ncsu.edu or amanda_hatcher@ncsu.edu