Citizen-Times: Younger WNC farmers scramble to find land

From the Asheville Citizen-Times:

In many ways, Buncombe County is farming heaven — unless you’re trying to buy land.

The local food movement is stronger here than many places in the country, with high demand for locally grown food and nearly 100 tailgate markets, and dozens of restaurants that will pay top dollar for local produce.

But capitalizing on that market is dependent on having a place to grow the food, and finding the land can be much more difficult in the mountains than other places, particularly for younger growers. Unless they’re lucky enough to have family land passed down or sold to them, they must compete with developers, second home buyers and second career farmers for limited suitable land, with prices that often induce sticker shock.

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