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Data for individual counties
TULARE -- During the
three-day run of this year's World Ag
Expo, about 77 acres of land will be
converted to non-agricultural use in the
central San Joaquin Valley. By next
year’s Expo, about 14.8 square miles of
farm and ranch land will have gone away,
according to the California Department
of Conservation. By comparison, the City
of Tulare covers about 18.4 square
miles.
“While there’s still
plenty of outstanding farm and ranching
land out there, the acreage that is
taken out of agricultural use is
significant over the long haul,” said
California Secretary for Resources Mike
Chrisman, a fourth-generation rancher in
Tulare County.
“California’s
agricultural production leads the
nation, and not by a small margin. And
the state offers some great programs,
such as the Williamson Act and the
California Farmland Conservancy Program,
to ensure it stays that way. But the
issue of taking land out of agriculture
is something we need to be aware of
throughout every level of government.”
According to the
Department of Conservation, 18,801 acres
of land in Fresno, Kings, Merced,
Madera, and Tulare counties were
converted from farmland or grazing land
to non-agricultural uses between 2002
and 2004, an average of nearly 26 acres
a day.
That’s an increase in
agricultural land being converted to
other uses of more than 4,000 acres
since the 2000-2002 report from DOC’s
Farmland Mapping and Monitoring Program.
The FMMP produces
maps and land-use data that planners and
decision-makers use in analyzing the
impacts of growth on California’s
agricultural resources. The maps are
updated every two years using aerial
photographs, a computer mapping system,
public review, and field reconnaissance.
A report covering change in the entire
state from 2002 to 2004 will be released
in the coming months.
“When people see the
numbers for their local area in our
reports, they sometimes look around at
all the agriculture and say, `I don’t
see an issue,’ ” DOC Director Bridgett
Luther said. “That’s because the change
in land-use sneaks up on you. A couple
of generations ago, Los Angeles County
was the leading agricultural county in
the nation. Not anymore. One generation
ago, the Silicon Valley was known as
`The Valley of Heart’s Delights’ because
of all the agricultural production.
“We’re not against
change or growth; they happen. As more
people move into the state, they need
places to live and work. We’re just
trying to nudge that change away from
our most productive farmland whenever
possible. So we’re especially concerned
about the Central Valley, in particular
the fast-growing area around Fresno.”
Forty-three percent
of the 18,801 acres taken out of
agricultural use in the region were in
Fresno County. Among the five counties,
only Tulare County showed an increase in
agricultural acreage (1,052 acres).
Fresno County experienced a loss of
8,117 ag acres, Madera County 4,635
acres, Kings County 4,023 acres, and
Merced County 3,078 acres.
Of the 8,825 acres of
land newly classified by the FMMP as
“urban and built-up,” 38 percent (3,362
acres) was in Fresno County. The report
noted new housing developments in the
Fresno-Clovis area, such as European
Quarter, Kings Crossing, Alta Sierra and
Historic Wawona Ranch; the new River
Bluff Elementary and Rio Vista Middle
schools; and the Save Mart Center and
associated parking lots at Fresno State.
Large developments on agricultural land
elsewhere in Fresno County included the
Liberty Intermediate School in Kerman,
100 acres of new homes in Selma, and the
new Coalinga State Hospital.
A snapshot of other
San Joaquin Valley locations:
¨ Merced County’s
urbanized area grew by 1,852 acres from
2002-2004. Examples of new development
included two housing projects in Atwater
(215 total acres); the Monte Cristo and
Sundance neighborhoods (a total of 70
acres) in Livingston; nearly 250 acres
of new housing around Los Banos; the
Bella Vista (65 acres) and Cypress
Terrace (25 acres) projects as well as
the Iris Garret Juvenile Justice
Correctional Complex in Merced; and a
50-acre water control facility in the
community of Volta.
¨ Tulare County had
an additional 1,715 acres of urbanized
land, mostly in the form of houses
around Visalia (560 acres), Tulare (390
acres), and Porterville (70 acres). Also
noted was the 35-acre Packwood Creek
retail complex in the Visalia area.
¨ Kings County
experienced urban growth totaling 972
acres, including the West Hills College
project and an airport runway expansion
project in Lemoore; a Target store and
other commercial buildings across from
the Hanford Mall; and small developments
around the periphery of Avenal.
¨ Madera County’s
urbanized land increased by 924 acres,
including a new school, small housing
developments, and a driving range in
Madera and the Chukchansi Gold Resort &
Casino, occupying about 60 acres in the
community of Coarsegold.
The long-term
potential for land-use change in the
region also can be seen in the amount of
Williamson Act acreage in the process of
non-renewal.
The Williamson Act
has been the state’s premier
agricultural land protection program
since 1965. It preserves agricultural
and open space lands through property
tax incentives and voluntary
restrictive-use contracts. Under the
program, private landowners limit their
property to agricultural and compatible
open-space uses under minimum 10-year
rolling term contracts with local
governments. In return, restricted
parcels are assessed for property tax
purposes at a rate consistent with their
actual use, rather than potential market
value.
Generally, a
landowner who wants to end the contract
goes through the non-renewal process,
and property taxes rise gradually as the
contract winds down.
As of January 1,
2005, 16.6 million acres -- more than
half of California's farmland total and
a third of the state's privately owned
land -- were enrolled in the Williamson
Act. At the same time, 314,880 acres of
contracted land were in some stage of
non-renewal, including 27,615 acres in
the central San Joaquin Valley.
"Those are the
highest non-renewal numbers we’ve ever
seen,” said Brian Leahy, head of DOC's
Division of Land Resource Protection.
“Taking your property out of the
Williamson Act doesn't necessarily mean
that you're planning to put houses and
strip malls on your agricultural land.
But many landowners say they can't
continue farming or ranching without the
Williamson Act’s tax benefits, so in
that sense, the non-renewal totals can
be an indication of what may be coming
down the pike.
“Our Central Valley
farmland is a limited natural resource.
We need to closely watch how it’s being
used and treasure it, because once it’s
paved over, it’s gone.”
In addition to
administering agricultural and
open-space land conservation programs,
the Department of Conservation studies
and maps mineral resources, earthquakes
and other geologic phenomena; ensures
the reclamation of land used for mining;
promotes beverage container recycling;
and regulates oil, gas and geothermal
wells.
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