RALEIGH — Catawba County is not among the 44 counties the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services named Friday in a $51.2 million round of farmland preservation grants.
The N.C. Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund made the awards to help protect working farms and forests and to support the state’s farm economy, the department said in an Oct. 2 release.
Lincoln, Iredell, and Cleveland counties are on the list. Alexander, Burke, and Caldwell counties are not.
On the department’s Cycle 19 award page, Lincoln County has two easement grants. Catawba Lands Conservancy is the grantee for Mitchem Farm III, 53.25 acres, at $123,961. The Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District is the grantee for the William Andrews Farm, 190 acres, at $246,444.58. The conservancy’s name includes Catawba. The award page places both farms in Lincoln County, not in Catawba County.
Iredell County’s entry is the S Howard Hager Rd Farm, under Three Rivers Land Trust, at 424 acres and $2,322,908.
Cleveland County’s entries are Stoney Run Creek Farm, 36.35 acres and $93,125, through Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina; the Beam Family Farm, 97 acres and $143,906.50, through the Working Lands Trust; and $500,000 to Cleveland County for the Kings Mountain Hometown Farmers’ Market pavilion.
Those posted Lincoln, Iredell, and Cleveland awards add to $3,430,345.08.
As of publication, the five tables on the Cycle 19 page add to $42,359,566.39. That is $35,976,121.90 for conservation easements covering 7,741.13 acres; $2,039,206.49 more in easement money covering 856.68 acres; $2,278,738 for agricultural development projects; $65,500 for agricultural plans; and $2 million to renew a Wake County agricultural growth zone. The page does not list a project in Craven County or Tyrrell County, both of which the Oct. 2 release names. The release does not explain the difference between the posted tables and the $51.2 million figure.
As of publication, the award page also does not list a Catawba County farm, county office, or soil and water district as a grantee. The department has not said whether anyone from Catawba County applied.
The grants go to county governments and nonprofit organizations for agricultural conservation easements, agricultural development projects, agricultural plans, and agricultural growth zones. The department said a farmer or landowner has to partner with a qualified nonprofit or a county government to be part of a proposal. It described conservation easements as a voluntary way for owners to keep working land in production.
Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler wrote on Aug. 10 that the state budget put $46.91 million in one-time money into the trust fund and added $2 million in ongoing funding, which he said raises the fund’s yearly ongoing amount to $7 million. He wrote that the General Assembly passed that budget on July 2 and that Gov. Josh Stein signed it on July 7. The Oct. 2 release describes the one-time piece as $46.9 million and calls it the largest single-year investment in the program’s history.
“This support will make a significant, lasting difference for farm families and rural communities across North Carolina,” Troxler said in the Oct. 2 release.
The department said people applying in the current grant cycle should not assume the same level of funding will be there again. Awards depend on the money available for that cycle.
“We are thankful for this historic support, but demand for farmland preservation remains high,” Troxler said.
Source note
This story started from a Facebook post by Blue Ridge Times. The grant figures, county names, and nearby project details are from the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services release of Oct. 2, 2026 and the department’s Cycle 19 award page. The budget amounts Troxler gave in August are from his department column published Aug. 10, 2026.
