From the Chair

Saving Farms is a Priority

The unprecedented "Freedom to Farm" bill considered by Congress in March may usher in a new era for national agricultural policy in which federal support for productivity helps to enhance resource conservation.

The bill proposes aggressive federal programs to protect prime farmland from development, provide incentives for conserving erodible soils, wetlands, and wildlife habitat, and assist farmers in solving water pollution problems.

This new direction in federal farm policy could benefit California by strengthening farm productivity and protecting prime farmland from conversion to non-agricultural uses.

A study last year by the nonprofit American Farmland Trust concluded that conversion of farmland to non-agricultural uses jeopardizes the long-term viability of agriculture in California's extraordinarily productive Central Valley. The Trust predicts that a total of 1 million acres will be lost by 2040 in the Central Valley alone if current trends continue. California currently loses more than 20,000 acres of farmland to urbanization every year.

An expected tripling of population in 11 Central Valley counties is likely to boost that area's population from 4 million to 12 million by 2040 and exert tremendous pressure on farmland and public services, the Trust report said.

The report, "Alternatives for Future Urban Growth in California's Central Valley: The Bottom Line for Agriculture and Taxpayers," also predicted that over the next 45 years, loss of valley farmland will take a $49 billion bite out of agricultural sales, which amount to more than $20 billion a year in California.

In addition to the loss of open space and habitat values, farmland conversion is a matter of concern to Californians because we produce much of the food that feeds California and the rest of the United States, as well as many parts of the world.

Several months ago, I was privileged to lead a delegation of state natural resources specialists to the People's Republic of China for a first-hand look at its resource and development policies. During our trip, sponsored by the National Committee on United States-China Relations in conjunction with the State Planning Commission of China, we saw that China, like California, is rapidly converting croplands for other uses.

China has been committed in policy and practice to feeding its own population, however modestly, from home-grown resources. But its conversion of arable farmland for development has continued unabated while its grain harvest has dropped from 90.8 million hectares to 85.7 million.

Thus, China has become a substantial market for California exports. In 1994, California's exports to China were $1.7 million, making the People's Republic of China California's 15th largest export market, ahead of Italy and behind Thailand.

China will depend more heavily on supplies from exporting nations as its productivity is diminished. If farmland loss continues at present rates in both countries, the United States would lose its ability to serve an important market just at the time when that market might be expected to grow exponentially.

As California continues to strike a sustainable balance between the need to retain agricultural land and the demand for development, we are creating incentives for the conservation of productive agricultural land. Besides the Williamson Act, which since 1965 has enabled counties to tax farmland at the value of its current use, there are the purchase and transfer of development rights, agricultural districts, and income and estate tax incentives.

Governor Pete Wilson's budget proposal for 1996-97 contains an initial $1 million for a new program to create partnerships with local governments and nonprofit groups to conserve threatened farmland. The Freedom to Farm legislation would complement the California program by providing matching federal funds.

Such efforts to achieve effective conservation of our agricultural land must be accelerated if we are to continue to enjoy the environmental and aesthetic qualities of farmland and meet the challenge of satisfying a growing world market for California's commodities.