Calif. budget problems affect farmland protection

FRESNO, Calif. — Where grape vines and fruit trees once unfolded to the horizon on the southeast edge of Fresno, some fields have now been paved over and replaced by hundreds of houses with scrawny lawns and small, immature trees.

Farmers, environmentalists and local government officials say more swaths of California's best agricultural land could be lost to housing tracts and strip malls if the state doesn't restore funding for its flagship farmland conservation program.

The state had been spending nearly $38 million a year to protect about 16 million acres, but it mostly eliminated that funding starting two years ago because of budget problems. While other states have farmland preservation programs, the issue is more pressing in California because it's the nation's largest food producer and agricultural land is being lost an a staggering rate — an average of 50,000 acres a year.

Rapid population growth and high housing prices in major cities have created intense pressure to build.

"California would look a lot different today without having these millions of acres restricted to agriculture," said John Gamper, director of taxation and land use for the California Farm Bureau Federation. "It helps keep cities compact and prevents leap frog development."

The state had been providing money to counties through a 46-year-old program known as the Williamson Act, and in turn, counties gave tax breaks to land owners who agreed to keep farming for a decade or more. But the state reduced the program's funding by 10 percent in the 2008 budget year and cut all but $1,000 for it in 2009. The current budget originally included $10 million for the program, but Gov. Jerry Brown eliminated that last month.

As negotiations on the 2011 budget continue, there's little expectation the program will receive much, if anything.

Some counties had been continuing the program themselves while they waited to see what the state would do. But one major agricultural county, Imperial County, has already opted out of the program — and others are considering doing so.

The program boosts the state's agriculture industry, which generates about $35 billion in sales each year, by reducing farmers' costs and helping them remain profitable. Landowners are taxed on their property's agricultural value, not its free market value. Farmers save an estimated 20 percent to 75 percent their annual property taxes, with prime farmland getting the bigger breaks.