WHAT'S NEW?
 The initial recommendations of a blue ribbon committee convened by American Farmland Trust (AFT) to address the major challenges facing California agriculture were accepted in late June by the State Board of Food & Agriculture, the principal agriculture advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger. Five challenges are covered by the recommendations.
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A new report by the planning firm Calthorpe Associates highlights the vivid contrast between the impacts of conventional urban sprawl and smart growth on California’s land, water, energy, climate and the economy. Charting Our Future documents the initial application of a new computer modeling tool called Rapid Fire to examine four different future growth scenarios.
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 The first year of AFT’s BMP Challenge field trials in the San Joaquin Valley of California have proved to be a success, with no reported loss of crop yields due to the use of new beneficial management practices (BMPs) that reduce water pollution and climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions. Six growers of forage corn altered their cultivation and fertilization routines on 600 acres under agreements that promised to indemnify them for any economic loss they might suffer because of reduced yields
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At the invitation of the California Senate Local Government Committee, chaired by Sen. Dave Cox (1st Dist.), AFT California Director Edward Thompson, Jr., testified that the Williamson Act needs significant improvement. The Williamson Act is the backbone of the state’s farmland preservation effort, offering farmers and ranchers lower property taxes in exchange for agreeing not to develop their land for at least 10 years. Governor Schwarzenegger’s most recent budget proposal would cut virtuallyall funding for the program, forcing local governments to cancel agreements with landowners and leaving tens of thousands of acres of farm and ranch land vulnerable to development.
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 American Farmland Trust and two local organizations have launched an effort to conserve farmland and encourage those who farm it to produce more food for local markets in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area region. The project is an outgrowth of an Urban Rural Roundtable that AFT helped lead, which recommended a number of actions to increase both the production and consumption of locally-grown food in order to promote greater economic opportunity for farmers, regional food security, improved public health and environmental quality.
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AFT has released a new Guide to Beneficial Management Practices for California Specialty Crops that outlines farming practices that growers can use to reduce pollution, conserve water and energy, improve wildlife habitat and moderate climate change. The interactive on-line guide matches California's leading specialty crops with specific farming practices, their environmental benefits and sources of funding to pay for their use.
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 Much has been made of the potential for U.S. agriculture to help reduce climate-altering greenhouse gases by modifying farming practices. Often overlooked, however, is the role that saving farmland from urban sprawl can play in reducing the risks of climate change. Quite simply, one of the most important strategies for greenhouse gas reduction – promoting more compact, walkable, transit-oriented urban development – is also the key to reducing the loss of farmland, especially in California.
A policy council comprised of 16 local elected officials from eight San Joaquin Valley counties endorsed a “blueprint” for future development in California’s premier agricultural region that will save 118,000 acres of farmland by 2050, a 36% reduction compared with the way land is now being developed. While encouraging, the council’s decision rejected an even more ambitious growth scenario we endorsed by that would have cut farmland loss in half while also reducing both energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 20%.
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The customers of the Davis Farmers Market in Davis, CA, are passionate about their farmers market as a key social AND economic hub in the community — as evidenced by the more than 3,000 votes cast to earn the market the designation of the country's favorite large market in our nationwide contest. The contest promoted farmers markets and underscored the importance of protecting farmland and supporting farms and farmers to ensure the availability of fresh, local food.
According to Ed Thompson, California Director,
"The commitment that the people of Davis and Yolo County made to their farmers market is second only to their commitment to farmland preservation. They recognize that, if there are no local farms, there can be no local food. And they have taken aggressive actions to prevent urban sprawl and keep the best land in agriculture."
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Paving Paradise: Study Details Statewide & Local Farmland Losses
 One out of every six acres developed in California since the Gold Rush was paved over between 1990 and 2004. So concludes our report, Paving Paradise: A New Perspective on California Farmland Conversion. In all, more than a half million acres were urbanized during this period, almost two-thirds of it agricultural land. Among AFT’s other findings: More than 60% of the land developed in the San Joaquin Valley, which accounts for half of California’s agricultural production, was farmland of the very best quality. Statewide, development is consuming an acre of land for every 9.4 people – imagine them spread out over a football field.
If sprawling development patterns continue, another 2 million acres of California land will be paved over by 2050. If, however, the state as a whole develops land as efficiently as Sacramento County or the Bay Area did in recent years, a million acres of California’s irreplaceable farmland could be saved.
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P.O. Box 73856
Davis, CA 95617
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Vision California: Charting Our Future
San Joaquin Valley Blueprint
