Franklin County, NC Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

Franklin County's Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) and Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural District (EVAD) program, created by the Board of Commissioners under Chapter 4, Article II, ties directly into county zoning. To be certified, land must be used for bona fide farm purposes, be located in the unincorporated area of Franklin County (absent a municipal agreement), and be the subject of a ten-year conservation agreement recorded with the Register of Deeds. A VAD requires at least five acres of horticultural land, ten acres of general agriculture, or 20 acres of forestland; an EVAD carries the same enrollment floor.

Certification and district recommendations run through the ten-member Agricultural Advisory Board, whose members must be Franklin County residents actively engaged in farming, appointed by the Board of Commissioners for staggered three-year terms. Once approved, the district is reflected on the county's tax maps and reported to the Tax Department, GIS Office, and Planning and Inspections Department. Enhanced-district enrollees get an added zoning benefit: they may derive up to 25 percent of gross sales from nonfarm products while still qualifying as an exempt bona fide farm under G.S.

160D-903(a), with the landowner bearing the burden of proving the 25 percent threshold. Denial of certification or revocation of a conservation agreement can be appealed to the Board of Commissioners within 30 calendar days of the Advisory Board's decision.