Members of N.C. State faculty are working to protect farmland in rural towns on the coast of North Carolina. 

Sea level rise has caused an increase in saltwater intrusion for farmland areas in North Carolina like Hyde County. This is problematic because it affects crop efficiency and the amount of usable farmland. 

Hyde County is home to “some of the best farmlands in the country,” according to Mac Gibbs, the extension director for Hyde County. High yields of corn, soybeans, wheat, and cotton are all produced there, Gibbs said. 

The county has very low elevation, with the highest point in the county only 14 feet above sea-level, and the majority of the county lying between three and five feet above sea-level, according to Gibbs. 

“Sea-level rise is real and it’s been happening for years. We are seeing a loss of farmland from the saltwater intrusion,” Gibbs said. 

Gibbs explained that most crops cannot grow successfully in soil with high salinity, and the ones that do grow very slowly. 

Major storms, like hurricanes, are also contributing to “more flooding further inland than in the past,” Gibbs said. 

“With all of these forces against us, we had to come up with a way to protect the farmland and the villages,” Gibbs said. 

Mike Burchell, assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering and extension specialist, works alongside Gibbs to restore farms and streams. 

Burchell and Gibbs, along with other experts, are putting a variety of different systems in place to protect the county and surrounding areas. 

The planning and designing of the restoration project has been in progress for over four years and the researchers plan to break ground with their main project later this year, according to Burchell. 

By the completion of the project, a large area of farmland in Englehard, NC will be protected from saltwater intrusion. 

This large area of farmland is already protected by a dike that is 14 miles long. The dike affects 10,000 acres of farmland at 7 foot elevation, Gibbs said. 

Besides the dike, other measures are being taken to protect the historic towns of eastern North Carolina. Burchell explained that they are also trying to convert unproductive farmland back to wetlands. 

Drainage water from farms, which contain excess nutrients and sediment, will be diverted back to those wetlands. Doing this will save farmers money on pumping costs while also rehydrating the damaged wetlands and improving the water quality of the Pamlico Sound, according to Burchell. 

However, this conversion won’t be detrimental to farmers.

Farmers can receive pension for turning their land back into wetlands, and most of the land will also serve as areas for hunting, which can also bring in extra revenue for the farmers, Burchell said. 

“Rehydrating the wetlands and surrounding lands will also diminish the potential for devastating fires in the surrounding lands with peat soils, common in the adjoining Alligator Farms National Wildlife Refuge,” Burchell said. 

Saltwater headed towards farmland can also be directed into the wetlands to prevent further saltwater intrusion. 

“We’re trying to do these types of things as a win-win situation. We want to protect local ecosystems and protect the farmers,” Burchell said. 

Another problem facing the county is that the current infrastructure is very old. 

“A lot of it was actually built between 1835 and 1860, so we’re dealing with a drainage system that is almost 200 years old,” Gibbs said. 

“Our ultimate goal is to make sure that we produce food and fibers as efficiently as possible. We all eat food and need clothing,” Burchell said.