Randolph County landowner Guy Troy came by his land the old fashion way - he inherited it.  But the 34-year Army veteran has crafted an ownership and succession strategy that is anything but traditional. 

 

Through a limited partnership and a conservation easement on his 309 acres, Troy, 81, has devised a working model for landowners who wish to maintain their lands in agriculture for generations to come. 

 

The property his home now sits upon dates back four generations to the early 1820’s when his great grandfather assembled a track of 509 acres.     

 

“My great-grandfather put it together,” stated Troy.  “They say, and I don’t know if it’s true or not, but at one time it was the largest area in Randolph County, continuous.  People had more acreage, but this was a nice square block.”

 

Troy’s grandfather inherited the property and maintained the lands in agriculture.  Troy’s father, Thaddeus S. Troy, grew up on the land and graduated from Duke University in 1896, which was called Trinity at the time.  He became a doctor in the U.S. Army and moved to various hospitals. 

 

“At the turn of the century,” explains Troy, “people wanted to get away from the farm.  He left to pursue his practice of medicine.”

 

This desire to leave the farming community was not lost on Thaddeus L Troy, who decided in his will that he would leave his farm to the decedents of his son despite the fact that his son did not have any children at the time. 

 

Troy’s grandfather passed away in 1906, meaning the farm was left as an estate from 1906-1921 when Harriet Troy was born in 1921.  Two years later, Guy Troy was born and instantly became a landowner. 

 

Guy Troy spent most of his childhood in St. Petersburg, Florida, going to middle and high school there, and like his father, he did not immediately rush back to claim his place on the land in Randolph County as a young adult.  Then again, there were a few things going on in the world at the time.

 

In 1942 at the age of 19, Troy entered the U.S. Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet.  He was accepted at West Point in 1943 and graduated in 1946. 

 

Troy spent the next 30 years in the Army, rotating between armor and intelligence.  During the early years of his service, Troy had the opportunity to train and compete in the Modern Pentathlon, which combines the skills of riding, shooting, swimming, running and fencing, on the world wide stage.  He competed in the 1951 Pan Am Games and the 1952 Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland.  

 

Troy spent a total of 15 years overseas with stints in Germany, Austria, Iran and Vietnam.     

 

Due to concurrent military careers, neither Guy nor his sister Harriett whose husband was in the Air Force, spent much time on their inherited land.  Instead, a cousin looked after the property.  During this time, the state of North Carolina cut a path through the Troy Estate with Highway 421, taking a total of 54 acres and effectively marooning a third of the land on the other side of the highway.  This asphalt dividing line became a wedge within the Troy family and eventually, the catalyst for Guy Troy’s creative approach to his ownership. 

 

Upon retirement from the armed forces in 1976, Troy moved back to Greensboro to contemplate his next move.  At the young age of 53, he enrolled at Greensboro A&T to take farming classes on the G.I. Bill.   

 

“Although I knew maintenance because I had been in armor in the Army, I didn’t know anything about farming,” stated Troy.  “I didn’t even know how a plow worked.”

 

Fresh from the classroom, Troy took to the fields of his ancestors in earnest.  He shortly discovered that there were some differences in driving a tractor and driving a tank.  

 

“There are a lot of similarities in the maintenance, but you don’t get stuck quite as often in a tank as you do on a tractor,” stated Troy with a laugh.

 

Seeking to improve the performance of his tractor when it came time to administering to some forest management chores, Troy started to examine the design of his tractor.  In 1977 after consulting with some old Army contacts and the folks at John Deere, Troy purchased a Farmi Winch, which is mounted on the three-point hitch of farm tractors.  He found this Finnish product to be so helpful, he formed his own business as the southeast distributor of these products.   It is a business he maintains to this day, visiting the Southern Farm Show in each of the past 20 years.

 

As Troy was getting his feet wet and soiled in the world of farming and forestry, he stumbled into a situation that would ultimately lead him to explore and pursue other avenues of ensuring the perpetuity of his family’s farmland.   Upon retirement from the Army, Troy had spent six years living in Greensboro.  In 1983, he decided to build a home on his property where for the first time, he began to have issues with his sister on how to divide the property.  Since the state had already cut a swath through the property, it was no longer just a case of splitting it in half.  After much deliberations, the two siblings eventually sorted everything out, but with severe consequences regarding the land ownership.

 

With this experience as a reference point, Troy sought to form a Sub-Chapter S Corporation for his land that now totaled some 309 acres after he exempted out a few acres that held his primary residence.  In this type of ownership arrangement, any profits or tax breaks the property generates is directly transferred to the stockholders of the company. 

 

“I put 300-plus acres into the corporation,” explained Troy.  “I have given stock of that corporation to my two boys - 24% each.  I maintain the controlling interest.  They don’t own the land.  They will not inherit the land.  They will inherit stock in the corporation.  They of course, could buy one another out or sell that stock, but they are not going to argue about who owns what.”

 

Both of Troy’s adult sons followed in their dad’s footsteps with service careers.  One is in the Foreign Service and resides in Washington, D.C. while the other is in the Army and lives in Seattle, Washington.   

 

As Troy figures it, his two sons who spent much of their formative years as Army brats following their dad to various bases during his career, this land is the only roots they have.  He also believes the corporation setup keeps his boys in touch with the land.  A most recent example was the damage caused by a serious ice storm in December of 2003 where a huge swath of pine were severely damaged. 

“We clear cut part of it and salvage cut the remainder,” explains Troy.  “The boys each got paid a little something because they are part of the corporation.”

 

Currently, Troy Farms consists of roughly 309 acres.  A total of 140 acres are in planted pine and 125 acres in mixed stands of pine and hardwood. There is also 30-plus acres in corn and soy bean that Troy plants on his own.  Pleased with his corporation set-up as a way of ensuring harmony amongst his boys in terms of land ownership, Troy still was seeking the ability to fulfill what he has come to believe would be his grandfather’s wishes of keeping the property in the family name and in agriculture.

 

“I feel that grandfather wanted to keep the farm in the family,” explains Troy.  “I have no reason to believe that other than a gut feeling of mine.  I would have never sold the land.  My grandfather, I’d say, would strike me with a bolt of lightning.”    

 

Over the years, Troy had heard bits and pieces about conservation easements and what opportunities they provide for the current landowner as well as the security for the property into the future. 

 

“I talked to a lot of people about it,” stated Troy.  “Nobody spoke against it.  No one really came out for it because I think they were unsure about them.”

 

A few years back, Troy began to explore his options among the various land trusts.  He soon discovered that there are some 27 land trusts in North Carolina alone.  As someone who sat on the Randolph County Planning Board and seeing how development was encroaching on this once rural setting, he started conversations on the local level with the Piedmont Land Trust.  Through discussions with the Piedmont Land Trust, it became clear to Troy that he could secure his long-term goals for his land while still enjoying the fruits of his labors on the land.   

 

“It’s a way to touch this family down the pipe,” stated Troy.  “If they know it is never going to be developed, and they are not here, they’ll keep it in forests.”

 

In his first step towards a conservation easement, Troy decided to donate his development rights on his land to the Piedmont Land Trust rather than sell them.  He chose a local entity because they had existing knowledge of land values and the local people who could administer the land appraisal.

 

“Not having bought the land, but inheriting it, I decided that I would donate my development rights,” stated Troy.  

 

While it was Troy’s choice to donate the developmental rights to the land, he points out that there are several options for landowners, albeit he admits that the money at the disposal of most trust funds is scarce.  In any conservation easement, the land trust orchestrates the appraisal of the land for its present use value and the best use value.  The difference between these two figures is the amount the landowner will either sell or donate to the trust. 

 

In Troy’s case, this was the tax credit that Troy Farms earned over a five year period.  Although, he adds that he will never really be able to actually use the tax credit.

 

“I’ll never use it even though it’s pretty considerable because I’ll never have that much income,” explains Troy with a laugh, “but the two boys got part of that donation contribution because Troy Farms donated the development rights.”

 

Troy also believes there is more than one way to devise the donation/sale of development rights and that each landowner should investigate the possibilities with a land trust.  For example, a landowner could donate 40% of the value of the development rights and sell the additional 60%.  Not surprisingly, Tory admits that entering one of these more complex arrangements should be done with some outside assistance.

 

“It takes a good accountant and some good thinking on what is the best way to work it,” stated Troy.  “You don’t need to go whole hog either way.”

 

After agreeing to donate his developmental rights, Troy began the process of formulating his own conservation easement.  He had a standard version presented to him by the Piedmont Land Trust to which he could make additional provisions that were important to him.  First and foremost, Troy wanted to preserve the right for the land to be a source of agriculture - both farming and forestry. 

 

Troy believes in a working conservation easement where you can maintain the management aspect of the land whether it be in forests, crops or livestock.   

 

“I would never advise anybody to donate or sell their development rights if you couldn’t have forests on it,” stated Troy.  “What are you going to do with?  Let it grow up into nothing?”

 

Placing a portfolio onto his desk, Troy pulled out the actual deed on his conservation easement.  The pages in the billfold included the environmental and biological appraisals as well as the land appraisals.  Since he donated his development rights on his land, this was not an expense to him but it might be to a landowner who was selling his development rights. 

 

Troy estimates that he went through three or four revisions before he agreed to it.In his mind, the most important thing to the Piedmont Land Trust was the ability to conserve the land so he always had the opportunity to make additional requests as long as the development rights were not changed.  The main objective is to preserve the land from development.   

 

Now while Troy did donate his development rights, he also provided provisions for four single family homes to be constructed in specific locations on the property.  The homes have to be specifically for his descendents.  He also included a forest management plan for the property that is currently administered by consulting forester Dan Edwards. 

 

Troy Farms is currently enrolled in the use value tax program and since Troy still farms and harvests timber, he continues to be eligible for the program. Troy concedes that he is probably in a unique position as a landowner who has an additional source of income than what he derives from his land.  As a 30-year Army veteran, he draws a pension.  But, he also looks around and sees a lot of landowners who could benefit from selling or donating their development rights, which is something that they never intend to do anyway. 

 

“A lot of people who have held onto family land,” explains Troy.  “It’s their nest egg as they get older.  It makes them feel good because if worse comes to worse, they could sell it for development.”

 

It is this point, according to Troy, where land trusts both private and government sponsored could make a big difference in the environment of North Carolina in the generations to come. 

 

“There are a lot of people who would like to sell their development rights, but the money isn’t there,” stated Troy.  “For most of these people, this land, is their money in the pocket.  They will never be able to spend it because they never want to develop it, but if they could get some money and still enjoy the land, it would be a plus.”

 

Troy can mention a few local entities including an area dairy farm where a conservation easement purchase from the North Carolina Department of Transportation ensured the perpetuity of that farm.  

 

Guy Troy has been a soldier, a small businessman and a farmer. 

 

Troy has always been active in forestry and land management issues since his arrival at Troy Farms Estate in 1987, however, since his wife, Wynne, suffered a stroke in 1996, he has been somewhat limited in his involvement in committee work with various associations. 

 

Troy maintains his position on the Board of Directors for the Forest Landowners Association, a position he has held for the last 10 years, and he was selected as the Forest Landowner of the Year in 2003.    On the tour of his land, Troy points to the various uses for various acres.  Among his planted pine, Troy notes with pride the several acres of Long Leaf pine that he and Wynne planted several years earlier to augment his Loblolly stands.

 

“It took us three years to get approval to plant them,” explains Troy.  “They were concerned that Long Leaf wouldn’t grow here.”

 

There is no missing Troy’s affection for the land, which he clearly sees as a connection to his grandfather and all those who came before him.  There is also no mistaking Troy’s allegiance to the land conservation in the truest form.  He sees conservation trusts as a vehicle to ensure the family-owned farm and forests. 

 

“I am a firm believer in conservation trusts for a couple of reasons,” states Troy.  “It helps maintain our land from being overdeveloped.   This land is healthy.  We generate positives for our environment with clean air from the trees.  Number two, if someone can sell their development rights, they get to have their cake and eat it too.  They don’t leave it to their children, who might spend it.  They get to enjoy the fruits of this little nest egg while they are still alive.  And they still own the land.”