CATTLE CALL: As N.C. farmland disappears at an alarming rate, three Charlotte developers keep a family heritage alive with Angus cattle.

• Author: Ellis, Kevin

Three Charlotte real estate developers went down east to Lake Mattamuskeet hunting for ducks and returned with a plan to raise Angus cattle.

Grant Miller and Rob Speir, who work in Charlotte for Toronto-based Colliers International, and Tim Robertson with Charlotte-based Beacon Partners, weren't daydreaming on that January 2021 trip to the state's largest natural lake. They, along with Miller's father, have put up about $85,000 and formed Harve Creek Cattle, named for the creek passing through the 120 acres of the Miller family farm in Stony Point, an unincorporated area of 1,500 residents that crosses over the Iredell and Alexander county line.

"We had to get the merchandise first. Got some shirts and some hats. Had to design a logo," says Miller. By April 2021, the company had bought seven heifers and began looking for a bull.

"That's always been my kind of outlet to go out there and get on the tractor and unplug," says Miller, who has a farming background, unlike Robertson and Speir.

"We want to be a 50-cow operation, selling registered Angus to other commercial producers," he says. "Slow and steady growth. We want it to be a product we can stand behind. Now, will it make us any money? I haven't a clue."

The industrial real estate developers' venture into cattle comes at a critical time for agriculture in North Carolina. While the industry's annual economic impact topped $100 billion for the first time, hitting $ 103.2 billion, state Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler repeatedly warns that the state is losing too much farmland to development. Operations like Harve Creek and many others need to thrive for the state to retain a leading ag economy, he says.

North Carolina ranks second in the nation in potential farmland loss, behind Texas, according to a report last year by American Farmland Trust. The report projects 1.1 million acres of farmland will be paved over based on current development numbers by 2040, but could increase to 1.6 million acres if growth accelerates. The hardest hit counties would be Johnston and Wake in the Triangle and Union in the Charlotte area.

North Carolina had 8.3 million acres of farmland and 45,100 farms in 2021, based on a survey by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That compares with 10.8 million acres in 2001, according to the Farmland Information Center..

Millers maternal grandfather, Glen Martin, started the family farm in the 1950s, at one time raising chicken and dairy cows along with tobacco...