Farmland Preservation Program

The Cleveland County Farmland Preservation Program is a voluntary program that recognizes landowners’ commitment to keeping land for farming or forestry use. Cleveland County has 150 farms, totaling over 18,000 acres, enrolled in the program. Farms in the program are allowed to display a “Farmland Preservation Member” sign on their property. Each farm is placed within an Ag District. These farms and Ag Districts are also recognized on Farmland Preservation maps at the Conservation Office and Cooperative Extension and on the GIS layer for the county website. The program is designed to foster pride and awareness of farms in the county.

To qualify for the program, farms must be at least 50 acres in size or within one mile of an already established Ag District. Farms must also be classified under farm or forestry present-use tax evaluation by Cleveland County. Applications are approved by the Cleveland County Voluntary Agricultural Advisory Board. 

Agricultural Advisory Board will meet at 8:30am, at the Shelby USDA Service Center, 844 Wallace Grove Dr., Shelby. 
Meetings for 2025 are as follows:
January 23rd
March 20th 
August 21st
November 20th 

Members of the Board are:
Wayne Yarboro - Vice Chair
Joseph Lail - Member
Randall Greene- Member
Robert Henderson - Member