A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT REGARDING THE sale OF agricultural research stations managed by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and consumer services for university research, teaching, and extension.
Whereas, North Carolina established its first agricultural research station in 1877, and the system has grown over time to include 18 agricultural research stations under the management of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services; and
Whereas, these 18 agricultural research stations encompass 15,899 acres of land and are located across the State in the mountain, piedmont, and coastal regions; and
Whereas, the agricultural research stations are used by university faculty for research, teaching, and extension and have produced significant economic, environmental, and other benefits for the farmers and other citizens of the State; and
Whereas, the State's agricultural research stations constitute a unique State resource having been managed as working research farms with detailed crop and livestock production records; and
Whereas, it is the declared policy of the State to conserve and protect and encourage the development and improvement of its agricultural lands for the production of food and fiber; and
Whereas, it is also the policy of the State to preserve its working lands and to maintain open space for the benefit of all its citizens; Now, therefore,
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  None of the 18 agricultural research stations currently managed by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services named in subsection (e) of this section shall be sold unless the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, after consultation with North Carolina State University and North Carolina A & T State University, determines that a station is no longer needed by the State for agricultural research purposes and that it is in the best interest of the State to sell that property.
SECTION 1.(b)  The sale, lease, or transfer of an agricultural research station covered by this act, or any portion thereof, shall be subject to an agricultural conservation agreement.  For purposes of this act, an agricultural conservation agreement is a right, whether stated in the form of a restriction, reservation, easement, covenant, or condition, in any deed or other instrument executed by or on behalf of the State, appropriate to restricting residential, commercial, and industrial development of land for the purpose of maintaining its agricultural production capability.
SECTION 1.(c)  Subsection (b) of this section shall not apply to the sale, lease, or transfer of an agricultural research station, or any portion thereof, to another State agency or the federal government.
SECTION 1.(d)  Due to the significant agricultural and historical nature of the State's agricultural research stations and the requirement that an agricultural conservation agreement be placed in the deed conveying a station from the State, these properties shall be sold by private negotiation and sale, and all such sales shall be approved by the State Property Office. Property sold pursuant to this act shall be sold in accordance with the procedures set forth in G.S. 146‑27 through G.S. 146‑29.
SECTION 1.(e)  The properties covered by this act are:
a.	Border Belt Tobacco Research Station.
b.	Central Crops Research Station.
c.	Horticultural Crops Research Station (Castle Hayne, North Carolina).
d.	Horticultural Crops Research Station (Clinton, North Carolina).
e.	Lower Coastal Plain Tobacco Research Station.
f.	Mountain Research Station.
g.	Mountain Horticultural Crops Research Station.
h.	Oxford Tobacco Research Station.
i.	Peanut Belt Research Station.
j.	Piedmont Research Station.
k.	Sandhills Research Station.
l.	Tidewater Research Station.
m.	Upper Coastal Plain Research Station.
n.	Upper Mountain Research Station.
o.	Upper Piedmont Research Station.
p.	Caswell Research Farm.
q.	Cherry Research Farm.
r.	Umstead Research Farm.
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.