Farmland in several Western North Carolina counties will now be protected thanks to funding from the Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund, which recently awarded more than $4.6 million statewide to obtain easements on 2,590 acres.
- The Haywood Soil and Water Conser-vation District landed $270,000 for an easement on a 34-acre farm and $202,000 to preserve 49 acres of a beef cattle farm.
- A $27,500 award to the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will cover transaction costs on a 15-acre perpetual conservation easement that was donated in Jackson County.
- The Southwestern N.C. Resource Conservation and Development Council will use a $128,500 award for a perpetual conservation easement on a 20-acre farm in Haywood County.
- Mainspring Conservation Trust received $636,000 to purchase a perpetual conservation easement on 192 acres of cropland in Cherokee County and $114,000 to preserve a 31-acre farm, also in Cherokee County.