Conserving California's farmland – one of the groups at once
Every minute of every day, America loses two acres of agricultural land to urban, commercial or residential Development1 In California, approximately 50,000 hectares of farmland is held every year.2 If the patterns continue, another 2 million acres of California land will be paved by 2050.3 As farmers are increasingly under pressure to make the land fertile in non-agricultural developments, 1970 lyric warning – we're going to "pave paradise to put a car park" – is now an all too imminent threat. Will our desire to raise our children in a rural setting virgin, suddenly unreachable? Will we one day wake up to find that our dreams of peaceful country living have I have escaped from his grasp?
A look at our past and a look at our offer of hope to the future and some practical solutions.
"During more than 300 years, ambitious and energetic people have flooded into these vast lands [California], the establishment of missions, towns, farms, forts, mining camps, ports, military bases, universities and cities, "writes Sylvia Wright of the University of California Davis Magazine in 2005." Feeding all these builders were farmers, milkmen, gardeners, vegetable growers and producers of grain. "4
"At first," Wright continues, " food suppliers of farm and farm right next to the settlements … Now these sites are putting the cities and suburbs in the top of the best state cropland remaining in a record, and acceleration. "5
After the Second World War, agricultural and open space lands in California began to face increasing pressure conversion. In response, the first of two major vehicles for the protection of farmland in California came into being in 1965 when the Williamson Act was passed. To volunteer to keep their land preserved in a 10-year contract, owners are a tax cut. It was an immediate success.
However, California still trying, and in 1984, the Division of Land Resource Protection was recognized and in 1995, the second important tool for the protection of agricultural land – the California Agrolândia Conservancy Program – was established. Under this program scholarships, owners sell development rights to their property in perpetuity to a land trust, retaining the right to use the land for agricultural purposes. It worked.
UC Santa Barbara A 2002 study reports that most conversions of farmland between 1960 and 1980 and have declined steadily increasingly since.6 "If it can be argued that agriculture land is slowly being converted to residential use," the report continues, "expansion Proponents argue that rural parks and wilderness areas have been growing in number as a consequence. "7
In San Luis Obispo County, two tools Additional protection of farmland have been carried out – the Agricultural Group Ordinance passed in 1984, and the transfer of credits from the program adopted Development 1996. The first provides that owners may double the number of homes allowed on the property, provided that focus on 5% of the land, leaving the other 95% is more open space or agricultural use. The latter states that development rights can be transferred from an area designated for conservation (the site of delivery) a specific growth area (the receiving site.) Once these rights are transferred, the batch delivery site will be protected by applying a conservation easement in perpetuity.8
The success of the uses of these tools can be seen ag cluster projects and award-winning San Luis Obispo Varian Ranch. Aimed at preserving valuable agricultural resources of San Luis Obispo, RRM Design Group created the land plan for this 48-unit residential cluster development located at less than 60 acres of a property of 3127 acres. In accordance with Decree of Agriculture County Cluster, the project preserves the agricultural use of the property while providing increased agricultural operations (use of capital generated by residential development). The 3067 undeveloped acres was put into an agricultural preserve and open space life easement.9
These same tools are also working on a proposed draft of Las Ventanas nearing completion this year, just above the Arroyo Grande Valley. Based on a 150-year-old working cattle, these 56 home sites occupy only 125 acres of more than 4,000 acres of historic land grant Talley's family. "In the long term sustainability and a commitment to quality are the hallmarks of our history of four generations in the Arroyo Grande Valley" said Brian Talley, Talley grandson Oliver, who began farming there in the 1940s. "We believe that Las Ventanas is the ultimate expression of these beliefs."
Talley Farms is a diversified agriculture company that grows vegetables, wine grapes, lemons and avocados. Talley Vineyards, founded in 1986, is the family winery. "My father's idea was to preserve our prime agricultural land, allowing very limited development on the slopes that were not suitable for agriculture," he continued Talley. "Consequently, our farms, vineyards and grazing land are now protected from development forever with a permanent open space easement.
Most windows will continue to operate as it has in the past 150 years – as a cattle ranch. "
It is believed by many to be a win-win solution, AG group, along with other newly developed farmland protection tools provides an opportunity for the owners the fair market value they deserve, while preserve precious farmland forever, and offering homebuyers the opportunity to build and live in the pastoral setting of their dreams.
"The older I've received," Talley says, "but I have faith in market solutions. This is a market-based solution. And, following the legacy of my family, we are preserving what is productive by building on what is not productive – in the valley floor. "
In order to protect sensitive resources, such as the view shed and oak trees, Talleys worked with the San Luis Obispo County Planning and Building Department to relocate sites of origin. He also collaborated with the County Parks Department to align the multi track to improve its utility, reduce environmental impact, and minimize conflicts with agriculture. And had the help of the Corps of Engineers U.S. Army to design an arch culvert to mitigate the disruption to a seasonal creek. Open, cooperative relationships with state and county regulatory agencies are critical to ensuring the success of evolution as Las Ventanas in time.
Clustered among the oaks and rolling hills with panoramic views of ocean and mountains, and Talley Farms and Vineyards, the 2 or the site 3-acre home of Las Ventanas will attract discerning buyers, because they invest in land preservation. Protected forever by a space agreement permanent open, Las Ventanas and communities as if they offer the hope that we can live with the land without destroying it.
1. "Protection Issues Agricultural Land – Agricultural Land Trust of America, April 2007.
2. "Disappearing Act" by Sylvia Wright, quoting Al Sokolow retired from UC Davis Cooperative Extension land use specialist at UC Davis Magazine, Winter 2005
3. "Paving Paradise: A new perspective on the conversion of farmland California – American Farmland Trust, April 2008
4. "Disappearing Act" Sylvia Wright, Journal of the University of California Davis, Winter 2005
5. Ibid.
6. "Predicting the Spatial Pressures of Development in St. Louis County Bishop:
Is Transferable Development Credit Program control urban sprawl? "- Casso, Dietenhofen, Eichel, Huang. UCSB 2002
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. www.rrmdesign.com
About the Author
www.verdinmarketing.com