A long-awaited farming education and outdoor recreation site in Durham County has received funding for its first three years.
The Farm Campus, a 129-acre lot the county purchased in 2024, has been in the works for more than a decade. But on Monday, county commissioners put the project in motion, approving $475,000 in funding from Golden LEAF, a North Carolina-based nonprofit that funds projects in the state’s rural and tobacco-dependent communities. The money will go toward hiring a farm manager and building basic infrastructure.
Donna Rewalt, the county’s cooperative extension director, said the Farm Campus is “a wonderful opportunity to preserve land” inside the county’s urban growth boundary. The site has 40 cleared acres that could be suitable for farming, in addition to four ponds and a wooded area, she said. Eventually, Rewalt said the campus will have public use spaces, such as trails…