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c. Address other infrastructure needs outlined in farmer survey. May include working with state Department of Transportation on road maintenance priorities and needed signage near farm operations. 2. Support the Right-to-Farm: County and town officials should become familiar with the state right to farm law and seek to improve neighbor relations and general understanding of commercial farm activities and needs to reduce nuisance suits and generate positive public support for local agriculture. Action items can include: a. Ensuring notice requirements under the Voluntary Agricultural District ordinance are followed in the counties land records system as well as posted notice in the tax office, as well as maintaining road signage in agricultural production areas. b. Creating a "neighbor relations" packet for distribution to new county residents by the Chamber of Commerce, Visitors Bureau, tax office, etc. This can also be made available to farmers wishing to further educate their neighbors on farming operations. c. Provide real estate brokers and lawyers with Voluntary Agricultural District maps, the above "neighbor relations" packet, and printed disclosure notices of agricultural operations and encourage them to share these materials with their clients. d. Create an easy to understand brochure on the realities of living in agricultural areas and make available for distribution, and add such information to the county website. e. Encourage respect for farm property. f Set up local arbitration referral program for farm- neighbor disputes. Pre - litigation mediation of farm nuisance suits is required in North Carolina. g. Encourage municipalities to seek input from the Agricultural Advisory Board or other when developing and revising local ordinances. Continue Support for Technical Assistance to Farm Operations. The AED and Agricultural Advisory Board should undertake to be aware of the various service offered to farmers by Cooperative Extension, Soil & Water, NRCS and FSA, and should have available information on these services with contact information available to new and existing county farmers. C. Protect Farmland as a Valuable Natural Resource Develop a Purchase ofAgricultural Conservation Easements (PACE) Program. The North Carolina Farmland Preservation Enabling Act enables counties to purchase agricultural conservation easements on qualifying farmland with the voluntary consent of the landowner. Under such a program the county could pay farmers willing to accept a permanent (or temporary) easement limiting subdivision of their land for residential development the difference between the value of their land for development and the value for its use as farming. Farmers would be free to use this payment for any purposes they choose: retirement investment, capital improvement, etc. Payment options could include lump -sum payment or annual payments over a set period. In other areas around the country 15 Attachment number 1 G -1 Page 212