N.C. Gen. Stat. § 54-49

Recognizing that agriculture is the most fundamental wealth-producing occupation of the State and that land is the basis of agriculture, the General Assembly of North Carolina does hereby authorize and direct the State Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to establish as a major division of its organization a Land Conservation and Land Development Bureau. The function of this Bureau shall be to promote conservation, rural home ownership, and the development of the land resources of the State through land mortgage associations under the following provisions.