BINGHAM TOWNSHIP - A few miles past downtown Chapel Hill's densely packed and heavily trafficked roads, away from the storefronts and streetlights, lies rural Orange County.

The quiet, sloping green hills are dotted with tractors, cows and farmhouses with wide porches. The people who live and work those farms are fiercely protective of their land, and their lifestyle, and in Orange County that land and lifestyle are threatened by development and difficult odds. Farming is hard work with uncertain returns, and the average age of farmers in the county is 57. As farmers face retirement, their children are more likely to sell the highly valued land than to carry on the family farm.

"If a farmer passes away, it may be tempting to sell it," said Karen McAdams, an Orange County Cooperative Extension agent who works closely with farmers.

She says when a 100-acre farm goes for sale, it is common for it be divided into smaller, 10-acre tracts. People buy those parcels and build homes on them, seeking a land buffer or a space for horses.

"In 1983, we had 64 dairy farms in Orange County," McAdams said. "Now we have about nine."

In order to survive, traditional farms have had to adjust. Those that have done the best have succeeded by adapting rapidly to changing markets and conditions, and by focusing on locally marketing the products they raise and grow.

Meeting new demands

Rob Hogan, who runs Hogan's Magnolia View Farm on Old N.C. 86 between McDougle Schools and Calvander, is a ninth-generation farmer. His ancestors were among the first to settle here, setting down roots in 1757. In 1995, the family dairy farm went through hard times.

"Everybody either aged out or took other work," Hogan said. It was difficult for him to continue the dairy and make enough money on his own.

He decided to give up the dairy and start raising wheat because he could sell the grain. Because the number of horses in the area had soared, he could sell the hay to their owners and to people reseeding lawns.

Rob's wife Ann Leonard said they had to find "retail niche opportunities for those agricultural products."

Some people started asking Hogan about buying meat, so he started raising Hereford cattle. But since he uses most of his 180 acres to grow wheat, he turned to neighbors, who let him raise his cows on their open land.

Hogan decided to sell that meat himself, too. Someone else butchers and packages the meat, and Hogan sells it out of freezers right on the farm.

His cows are purely grass-fed, he said. At a time when consumers are increasingly interested in healthy and locally produced goods -- the "locavore" movement -- operations such as the Hogan farm meet the need. Hogan's Magnolia View Farm maintains a mailing list of 1,000 families.

"People are very interested in high quality, local food," Leonard said. "We've got more demand than we can meet."

Ice cream school

Maple View Farm sits back from the road with a long driveway bordered by a white picket fence on either side. Black and white Holstein dairy cattle stand in the grass. From the front porch, you hear songbirds.

Farmer Bob Nutter came to Orange County in 1963. He, like Hogan's family, ran a dairy farm where they sold the milk to a co-op which sold it to a company in Raleigh. But he was hit with hard times around the same time as the Hogan's.

"It wasn't profitable," Nutter said. "We had a choice. We could sell out and quit or try something different."

Nutter didn't quit. He decided to sell his milk locally.

He sold off lots on his farm to raise enough money to build a bottling plant where they could sell their own milk rather than sell it to a company to mark up to retail prices.

Skim sold the best, so Nutter thought he could use the leftover cream.

"Maybe we can make some ice cream," he thought. He went to "ice cream school," opened the Maple View Country Store on Dairyland Road and sold his first ice cream on January 1, 2001.

The store has been a tremendous success. Maple View Country Store, with a front porch lined with rocking chairs that look out over a spectacular view of the Nutters' farm and fields, is usually crowded on summer evenings.

Three years ago, the Nutters opened a second ice cream shop in downtown Carrboro. A year after that, they opened one in Hillsborough.

"Our whole operation is to the max," he said. "We're fortunate to sell it all locally."

Meeting challenges

Hogan and Nutter both transitioned traditional dairy farms into operations that sell locally at retail prices. And they have been successful.

A lot of the opportunities for growth are on a smaller scale. McAdams said farmers have been successful locally selling vegetables, hay and potted ornamental shrubs.

Niche markets like those are attracting interest. Although traditional farms are not growing much, she says younger people are interested in small farms.

"We are seeing some [new farmers]," she said. "It's always hard to go into farming. It's how badly do you want to do it."

There are actually more farms in Orange County than there were 10 years ago, but they are getting smaller in response to the demand for niche products. In 1997, Orange County had 485 farms with an average size of 150 acres, according to the N.C. Department of Agriculture. By 2007, there were 604 farms, but with an average size of 99 acres per farm.

Still, farming isn't easy.

"It's difficult for people to hang on to farms," McAdams said.

Bob Nutter's wife Chris worries about eminent domain. Their area, in Bingham Township, was identified as a possible site for a new airport proposed by UNC, and is still being considered for the county's new solid waste transfer station.

Ann Leonard and Rob Hogan are also concerned about outside threats to their farm.

At a recent Carrboro Board of Aldermen meeting, Leonard urged the leaders to remember farms are businesses.

"If you want farms to continue, you have to think, what can you do to support them?" she said. There is a shopping center less than two miles away from their fields, and the town has grown.

Hogan has three sons. He isn't pressuring them to go into farming. But he feels a duty to the generations who worked the land and the animals before him.

"This is home," he said. "Many nights, I've thought, 'Is this farm gonna stop on my watch?'"