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SACRAMENTO – Noting
their importance to the state, nation
and world, the California Department of
Conservation saluted the state’s farmers
and ranchers as National Agriculture
Week kicked off Sunday.
DOC works with local
governments, landowners and non-profit
organizations to ensure California’s
continued agricultural production.
National Agriculture
Week – started in 1973 by the
Agricultural Council of America (www.agday.org)
-- runs through March 23. National
Agriculture Day is celebrated on the
first day of spring each year
(Wednesday).
“It has often been
said that if California was a nation, it
would have one of the world’s largest
economies,” DOC Director Darryl Young
said. “What people may not realize is
that agriculture is a huge part of that.
California’s total agricultural
production is about $29 billion. Our
farmers and ranchers help feed the
state, the nation and the world. Simply
put, California literally feeds the
economy and the people who fuel it. Our
department works to keep some of the
world’s best farmland in production even
as the state works to meet the needs of
a growing population.”
Through DOC’s
Division of Land Resource Protection,
the state offers three programs that
provide financial incentives to keep
land in agricultural use.
The California
Farmland Conservancy Program makes
grants available to local governments,
land trusts and Resource Conservation
Districts to purchase permanent
agricultural conservation easements from
willing landowners. During the past
year, the CFCP has committed $7.7
million to creating easements on the
state’s best farmland. More than 1,200
acres of prime farmland have been
permanently protected, while projects
covering another 5,600 acres are nearing
completion. The CFCP last year
provided more than
$70,000 in planning grants to nonprofit
organizations that provide support to
agricultural land trusts across the
state.
The Division of Land
Resource Protection also administers the
Williamson Act and Farmland Security
Zone program. Landowners who commit to
keeping their land in agricultural use
for periods of 10 years under the
Williamson Act or 20 years under the FSZ
program can receive tax benefits. More
than 16.5 million of California’s 30
million acres of agricultural land are
enrolled in the Williamson Act. Of
California’s 58 counties, 53 have
adopted the Williamson Act program –
most recently Modoc County in 2001. More
than half a million acres are enrolled
in the FSZ program, which is offered in
21 counties.
DOC’s Division of
Land Resource Protection also works with
and supports the state’s 103 Resource
Conservation Districts. RCDs are locally
governed agencies set up as special
districts under California law with
their own locally appointed or elected
boards of directors.
RCDs are authorized to undertake
projects such as agricultural land
conservation, watershed planning and
management, recreational land
restoration, irrigation management,
forest stewardship, wildlife habitat
enhancement and conservation education.
DOC issues $120,000 to RCDs annually in
a competitive grant program.
The Farmland Mapping
and Monitoring Program will release its
biennial California Farmland
Conversion Report this summer. This
program tracks land use change on 90
percent of the privately held land in
the state (44.5 million acres),
producing maps that help local
governments evaluate land-use planning
decisions. Between 1984 and 1998, the
FMMP documented new urban development on
more than 575,000 acres, an area larger
in size than Alameda County.
"National Agriculture
Week is the time to reflect on how
fortunate we are to have such a
productive and efficient agricultural
system in California and the nation,"
said Erik Vink, head of DOC’s Division
of Land Resource Protection. "It takes
an incredible amount of work to get food
from field to table. We’re proud to be
assisting landowners in protecting the
farmland that feeds America."
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