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Small, family-owned farms are becoming a rarity in North Carolina. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, North Carolina lost 1,000 farms in 2005 and has lost 300,000 acres of farmland since 2002. The Coastal Land Trust has developed a farmland protection program that can help conserve these working landscapes. To date, the Coastal Land Trust has helped protect over 3,400 acres of farmland. We are committed to help farmers, ranchers, and plantation owners keep their land in production while improving wildlife habitat and water quality.

New tax incentives for conservation agreements were recently signed into law. A portion of these incentives directly benefit farmers. They are available only for donations made in 2006 and 2007. Click here to view these new incentives!

In 2002, Walker and Marjorie Rayburn, transferred a conservation easement over 130 acres of their farm in Perquimans County to the Coastal Land Trust. The Rayburns, concerned by the imminent threat posed by neighboring residential subdivision development, worked with the Coastal Land Trust to explore options available to protect their farmland and agrarian way of life, raising sheep and row crops. The Rayburn Farm lies along the banks of the beautiful tea-colored waters of Yeopim Creek and is an excellent example of the Coastal Land Trust's farmland preservation work. The property is ecologically significant in that it features high quality soils, bottomland hardwood swamp forest, valuable open space and wildlife habitat. Additionally, the N. C. Division of Parks and Recreation has identified Yeopim Creek as an official paddle trail.

We are delighted to have worked with the Rayburns to preserve their legacy farm, meaning that this farm has been in the Rayburn family for over 100 years, and cultural farming heritage, which is so vital to the history and economy of Perquimans County.

Jubilee Farm, located just southeast of historic Edenton in Chowan County is protected forever by a conservation agreement held by the Coastal Land Trust. In late 2001, Mr. and Mrs. Simon B. Rich generously donated a conservation agreement over scenic Jubilee Farm, historically known as Poplar Neck Farm. The property, which remains in private ownership and is not open to the public, is best known for its circa 1853 restored antebellum plantation home known as Poplar Neck Plantation.

Jubilee Farm features a mixture of agricultural land, managed timberlands, old-growth hardwood stand and pasture. A portion of the property is now dedicated to organic cattle husbandry. Mr. and Mrs. Rich placed the property under a conservation agreement to preserve its scenic and historic values and encourage neighboring landowners to do the same.

In June 2004, The Coastal Land Trust purchased a 143 acre riparian buffer conservation agreementt along the Lockwood Folly River in Brunswick County from the Hewett family with funding from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund. The Hewett family also donated a farmland conservation agreement on the 116 acre upland portion of their property for a total of 259 acres of land under protection.

The donated portion of the agreement is in agricultural production with crops such as soybeans and hay. The Hewetts also graze cattle on their lands and enjoy the fact that they can manage a productive tract of land while protecting water quality and wildlife habitat.