Commissioners Recognize Agriculture, Women's History with Dual Proclamations

At its March 15 regular meeting, the Board of Commissioners officially designated March 22, 2022 as Buncombe County Ag Awareness Day with a proclamation. The proclamation reads in part:

                Whereas, March 22, 2022 has been designated as National Agriculture Day to remind the public of the importance of agriculture to everyone, and:

                Whereas, Buncombe County has over 1,000 farms and more than 72,000 acres of farmland which produce almost fifty million dollars in cash receipts in Buncombe County, and:

                Whereas, the Buncombe County Commissioners have recognized the importance of preserving farmland in the county through its support and funding of the Farmland Preservation Program, which helps preserve production farms and open space in Buncombe County and contributes to the economic health and environmental well-being of Buncombe County,

Read the entire proclamation here.

As befitting National Agriculture Day and Women’s History month, Jackie Gillespie of the Buncombe County Farm Bureau Women’s Committee was on hand to accept the proclamation. North Carolina’s 22,289 female producers account for 2.7 million acres and $4.7 billion in agriculture sales. Thanking the Board, Jackie presented them with a jar of dirt containing soil samples from 18 of the 21 Century Farms in Buncombe County. “One of our missions is to research farms in the county that are not in this program, and we would like to continue to add more dirt from more farms as the program grows.”

Women’s History Month

The Board of Commissioners proudly joined the nation’s celebration of Women’s History Month with a proclamation of their own. The proclamation recognizes March as a time to celebrate the important contributions that women have made to our families, our response to the pandemic, our community, our state, and our nation. It reads in part:

                Whereas Buncombe County is proud to join in the nation’s celebration of Women’s History Month and the 2022 theme “Providing Healing, Promoting Hope,” which is both a tribute to the ceaseless work of caregivers and frontline workers during this pandemic and also a recognition of the thousands of ways that women of all cultures have provided both healing and hope throughout history…Read the entire proclamation here.

Chief Equity and Human Rights Officer Rachel Edens accepted the proclamation and noted: “It's a pleasure to receive this on behalf of the County as a tangible first step; building on the many steps of women that have come before and looking towards the future, recognizing the contributions of women, femmes, and female-identified individuals in all areas of industry from agriculture to engineering, home making, and hospital workers - and everything in between --but most importantly everything beyond. It is an honor to recognize with you, March 2022 as Women's History Month.”