Farmland Values and Farm Prosperity: Results from Your Community Leah Greden Mathews Department of Economics UNC Asheville Land of Sky Regional Council Asheville, NC April 15, 2009
Why Study Farmland? Farmland provides more than food Many of these benefits go to nonfarmers Scenic beauty Flood control Open space
Why Study Farmland? We know people love farmland But what, exactly, is it that they value?
Our Study Area 4 counties in western North Carolina: Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area
Change in Selected Agricultural Land Statistics Data from USDA, NASS, Census of Agriculture, unless otherwise noted Buncombe Haywood Henderson Madison Number of farms Land in farms (acres) Average farm size (acres) 1987-2002 - < 1% - 12% - 11% - 25% 2002-2007 -10% -11% +6% -18% 1987-2002 - 9% - 19% - 19% - 17% 2002-2007 -24% -13% -22% -21% 1987-2002 - 8% - 7% - 7% +10% 2002-2007 -16% -2% -26% -4% Population 1990-2004 (Census Bureau) + 30% + 20% + 45% + 20%
The Farmland Values Project To collect, analyze and communicate the many benefits that people gain from farmland in 4 western NC counties Funded by USDA-CSREES June 2005 - May 2009
FVP team & methods cross disciplines Focus groups, interviews, stories (O Leary, sociologist) Survey of residents, visitors (Mathews, UNCA economist) Existing geographic data (Rex, ASU geographer) Photographs, multimedia visualizations (Callahan, artist) Ground truthing expert (Yarborough, NC Dept of Agriculture Agronomist)
What did we do? 3 steps 1. Gathered information about the many benefits that farmland provides to our study region 2. Incorporated this information with maps to contextualize the benefits in place 3. Created a set of outputs that people can use to learn about the values people in WNC have for farmland
Step 1: Gather information about the benefits that farmland provides. We used several methods: Interviews Spring 2006 Focus groups Spring & Summer 2006 Survey of residents & visitors Fall 2007 Community mapping activity Winter 2008
Survey of residents & visitors Random sample of 3200 residential property owners Mail survey Online version available Festivals, visitor centers 1243 respondents 936 residents 307 visitors
Characteristics of Survey Respondents All Resident Respondents Visitor Respondents Average Age 60 years 52 years Gender (%F) 51% female 69% female Full time residents 89% N/a Years living in the county/visiting the region 35 years 15 years Live on a farm 21.5% N/a Education (% BA or higher) 53% 70%
What did we find? Farmland affects residents quality of life, and is very important to them. Residents are concerned about the loss of farmland. Residents believe more needs to be done to protect farmland in our area. Both residents and visitors are willing to pay to protect farmland in the region.
What benefits, if any, do you believe farmland brings to your county (Western NC)? Resident Visitor Number of respondents 764 276 1 Locally produced food 92.3% 97.8% 2 Scenic beauty 80.6% 89.5% 3 Jobs for farmers & their suppliers, pickers, packers, and truck drivers 80.1% 89.9% 4 Agricultural heritage 79.8% 89.9% 5 Open space 74.9% 76.4% 6 Wildlife habitat 74.7% 71.4% 7 Soil conservation 60.7% 72.5%
What costs, if any, do you believe farmland brings to your county (Western NC)? Resident Visitor Number of respondents 746 273 1 None: I do not believe farmland imposes costs on my county (WNC) 51.6% 43.6% 2 Environmental damage 42.5% 53.5% 3 Nutrient/pesticide runoff 36.9% 47.6% 4 Soil erosion 14.2% 17.2% 5 Wildlife habitat loss 12.2% 18.7% 6 Smells 9.4% 11.0% 7 Dust 6.2% 10.3%
How does farmland affect your quality of life? Resident Visitor Number of respondents 761 273 1 Farmland allows me to buy local food 85.8% 90.8% 2 Farmland is attractive and makes the area more beautiful 84.5% 80.6% 3 I am happy just to know that it is there 82% 76.6% 4 Farmland provides recreation 56.2% 68.5% 5 Farmland provides a link to my agricultural heritage 6 Farmland helps me to learn about natural cycles 7 Farmland brings visitors to the area, which helps the county tax base 51.0% 53.1% 38.5% 42.9% 33.9% --
Rank Ranking of Farmland Benefits All Resident Respondents 1 Local food Local food 2 Farm income Farm income Visitor Respondents 3 Scenic beauty Wildlife habitat 4 Wildlife habitat 5 Agricultural heritage Scenic beauty, Agricultural heritage (tie for #4)
Rank All Residents Buncombe Haywood Henderson Madison 1 Local food Local food Farm income Local food Local food 2 Farm income Farm income Local food Farm income Farm income 3 Scenic beauty Scenic beauty Scenic beauty Scenic beauty Scenic beauty 4 Wildlife habitat Wildlife habitat Agricultural heritage Wildlife habitat Wildlife habitat 5 Agricultural heritage Agricultural Heritage Natural services Natural services Agricultural heritage
I am concerned about the likelihood that farmland in my county (WNC) will be developed for non-farm use. Resident Visitor n 754 257 7 Strongly agree 62.2% 58.4% 6 16.3% 12.8% 5 9.8% 1.9% 4 5.8% 3.9% 3 2.0% 19.1% 2 1.1% 0 1 Strongly disagree 1.9% 0.4% No opinion.9% 3.5% Average score 6.2 6.3
I believe that our community (WNC) needs to do more to preserve farmland. Resident Visitor n 756 256 7 Strongly agree 54.0% 46.1% 6 16.1% 21.5% 5 12.8% 14.8% 4 8.1% 7.8% 3 1.9% 0.8% 2 0.9% 0 1 Strongly disagree 2.1% 0.4% No opinion 4.1% 8.6% Average score 6.1 6.1
Would you be willing to make an annual voluntary contribution of $X if you knew the money would be designated for protecting farmland in your county (WNC)? % respondents who are willing to make some contribution > 0 Resident Visitor Number of respondents 732 263 Yes 54.3% 66.9% No 45.7% 33.1%
Average willingness to pay Average annual voluntary contribution for farmland protection Preferred group to manage donated funds All Resident Visitors Respondents $184.64 $195.41 Locally run non profit 80% 75.7%
Would you be willing to pay more for your food if you knew the increase in price went directly to protect farmland in your county (WNC)? Resident Visitor Number of respondents 745 256 Yes 64.2% 87.9% No 35.9% 12.1%
How often do you purchase local farm products? Residents (%) Buncombe Haywood Henderson Madison Never 0.5 1.4 0.0 0.0 0.6 Sometimes 46.9 50.2 43.5 45.8 47.9 Often (1/wk +) 48.4 44.7 51.1 51.8 46.7 I do not know 4.1 3.7 5.4 2.4 4.8 Any amount 95.3 95.0 94.0 97.6 94.5 Visitors Have you purchased local farm products during this trip? 55.7% Yes
Community Mapping Activity To learn more about the specific places that people value for their scenic and cultural heritage benefits
Community Mapping Activity 33 individuals located, described, and rated the importance of 234 places they identified
Step 2: Incorporated benefit information with maps to contextualize the benefits in place Used our data to enhance USDA s Land Evaluation & Site Assessment (LESA) model Land Evaluation: soils Site Assessment: population, other public values Total Value Assessment Tool for Farmland (TVAL-Farm) Enhanced SA factors: scenic, cultural heritage
TVAL-Farm Incorporates: Soils Population Scenic value Cultural value And other factors Total value of a particular parcel of land
Step 3: Create a set of outputs that people can use to learn about the values people in WNC have for farmland Many types of information Photos Audio from focus groups Survey Data County level analysis Quick Facts sheets for each county Maps are being distributed Website Public meetings
Step 3: We have much to share Please visit our new website! Much more data + audio, photos and more www.unca.edu/farmlandvalues
Outreach meetings held jointly with the Farm Prosperity Project County Date Time Location Haywood March 19 7-8:30pm Haywood County Exten Center Auditorium Buncombe March 26 7-8:30pm UNCA Reuter Center Rooms 102 A&B Henderson April 2 7-8:30pm Mountain Hort Crops Research & Ext Center Madison April 9 7-8:30pm Madison County Exten Center Auditorium
Other Activities Farmer meeting March 12 Public officials meeting April 15
Feedback From Outreach Meetings Did this meeting improve your understanding of The values that community residents have for farmland? The decisions that farmers make to find profitable enterprises? What needs to be done in order to protect farmland in your community? % Yes 92.3% 83.1% 83.6%
Feedback From Outreach Meetings Do you. % Yes Buy local farm products? 98.7% Subscribe to a CSA? 16.9% Visit local farms? 57.1% Donate to a non-profit that purchases farmland 29.9% conservation easements? Vote for elected officials that support farmland 95.9% preservation efforts? Engage in other activities that support farmland? 79.4%
Feedback From Outreach Meetings Are there barriers that keep your community from doing more to protect farmland? 70.7% 6.7% 22.7% yes no don t know
If yes, what are these barriers? Land use policy Disconnect bt young hopefuls and older farmers high prices of land Developers, laws/regulations appear to support development not enough money to provide alternatives to selling out, Bias against farmland surrounded by developments and commercial properties in terms of conservation easements Cost of land, lack of understanding and commitment from some elected boards (local govts) age of farmer, family complications Land costs Educating consumers/public of what is around them, but rapidly decreasing; educating them on costs of operating/preserving farms lack of knowledge of the issues and events. A lot of people are fairly isolated and don't always think these things apply to them Cost of housing and low profit/high cost of farming
For more information Leah Greden Mathews Department of Economics University of North Carolina Asheville farmland@unca.edu www.unca.edu/farmlandvalues
The project is supported by the National Research Initiative of the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, grant #2005-35618-1567.