California is a growing state. Every year we are fighting more
traffic on the highways and seeing more new housing developments
than ever before.
Editor,
California is a growing state. Every year we are fighting more traffic on the highways and seeing more new housing developments than ever before. As our population grows and we develop more land for houses and industry, we are also losing a real jewel of California – our agriculture lands. As the Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, farmer, and citizen of California, I am concerned about the loss of farmland.
Farmland is being paved over at an astounding rate. California is losing about 50,000 to 100,000 acres of valuable farmland per year. At that rate, we could see the end of some of America’s most productive regions in my children’s lifetime. Like the orange groves of Anaheim, farming could be a memory of the past, replaced by asphalt and concrete.
On Sept. 20th, I chaired a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing in Merced to discuss the state, federal and local efforts to protect our farmland from vanishing forever. We discussed how effective programs have been such as the Williamson Act, which gives tax incentives to keep the land in agriculture, and agriculture easements, which protects the ag land in perpetuity. With all of our current growth, ag land preservation programs are, and will be, put to the test to protect our green fields.
Already, the Williamson Act, protecting over 16 million acres, which is half of the state’s agriculture land, was threatened with the loss of state funding last year when the Legislative Analysis Office suggested that the state could better spend tax dollars elsewhere. Thankfully, agriculture leaders and legislators, realizing the value of this program, were able to ensure that the state continue to compensate counties for the property tax reduction given to participants in the Williamson Act.
Recently, an increasing number of people are turning to more permanent protection for their agriculture property with agriculture Easements. By putting their land in agriculture easements, farmers are essentially ensuring their land will remain undeveloped and in agriculture forever. With its long-term impact on land use, it is important that a farmer work closely with their local government and farmland trust before putting their land in an agriculture easement.
California is a growing state. As we continue to grow, we must be sure that the mistakes of the past, leap-frog development, and unrestrained sprawl, are not in our future. With the use of a variety of land use tools, California can continue with its strong agriculture industry and open space while accommodating our future population demand through smarter, planned, and targeted growth of our communities.
State Sen. Jeff Denham, Merced
