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SACRAMENTO – The
Monterey County Agricultural and
Historical Land Conservancy has
purchased an agricultural conservation
easement on the 234-acre Swenson Farm
near King City with a grant from the
California Department of Conservation.
The transaction permanently shields the
high-yield agricultural land from
development.
“The Swenson Farm is
all prime farmland with remarkable soil
and climate conditions for growing, so
we’re very pleased to help make sure
that the property will always remain in
agricultural use,” said Secretary for
Resources Mike Chrisman, who is a
rancher.
The rectangular
property is located approximately one
mile southeast of King City’s city
limits, with Highway 101 at one end and
the Salinas River at the other. It is
adjacent to an existing easement on the
Petit Ranch.
“This will help
bolster our efforts to protect farmland
in this vicinity,” said Sherwood
Darington, president of the Monterey
County Agricultural and Historical Land
Conservancy. “Here in the `Salad Bowl of
the World,’ we’re blessed with some of
the best farmland anywhere. We’re
working to direct growth, which is
inevitable, toward lesser farmland as
much as possible. This particular parcel
of land should never be anything but
farmland.”
The land trust,
founded in 1984, has completed 45
projects that protect more than 15,000
acres of agricultural properties in
cooperation with state, county and
federal programs, private foundations,
and the American Farmland Trust.
Swenson Farm – once
known as the Crinklaw Ranch – produces
typical Salinas Valley crops, including
several lettuce varieties. The soil and
morning fog make the area one of the few
locations in the country suitable for
lettuce and other crops in the spring
through fall months.
Through the
California Farmland Conservancy Program
– administered by the Department of
Conservation’s Division of Land Resource
Protection – the state awarded a
$687,050 grant to the land trust to
purchase the easement.
“As the population
grows, farmland preservation becomes
ever more critical,” Department of
Conservation Director Bridgett Luther
Thompson said. “The California Farmland
Conservancy Program offers a way to help
balance the needs of the traditional
agricultural economy with those of a
growing population.”
The California
Farmland Conservancy Program,
administered by DOC’s Division of Land
Resource Protection, is designed to
ensure that the state's most valuable
farmland will not be developed. Through
the program, local governments and
non-profit organizations can receive
grants to purchase development rights
from willing landowners, thus creating
permanent conservation easements.
California's
agricultural production totaled nearly
$33 billion in 2003, and Monterey County
ranked No. 3 in production -- behind
Fresno and Tulare counties -- at nearly
$3.3 billion. However, California
farmland is being converted rapidly to
other uses: Nearly 54,000 acres of
irrigated farmland were taken out of
production between 2000-02, according to
a recent DOC report. Monterey County is
an exception to the rule, actually
having gained farmland during that
period of time.
“Farmland is a vital
and irreplaceable natural resource,”
said Dennis O’Bryant, head of DOC’s
Division of Land Resource Protection.
“We hope this project encourages more
efforts to protect the county’s
farmland.”
CFCP funds remain for
new grant proposals. Landowners and
trusts are encouraged to contact the
Department of Conservation/Division
of Land Resource Protection for
information on the program and potential
grant funding.
DOC also offers
programs -- the Williamson Act and
Farmland Security Zones -- that provide
financial incentives to keep land in
agricultural use for periods of 10 and
20 years.
LOCAL
CONTACT: Sherwood Darington, Monterey
County Agricultural and Historical Land
Conservancy, 831-449-2743.
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