Today’s Lecture

Introduction
Preserving Agricultural
„
„ Agriculture is a business
4 major problems
Land: The Need for
„
… Erosion
… Salinity
Stewardship …
…
Water supply
Farmland Conversion
„ Agriculture: The California
Setting
Paul Wack, AICP
„ Agricultural Land Conversion
Policies
… Federal
… State
… Local
… Non-Profits

Sustainable Agriculture? Agriculture is a business

„ Agriculture in
California alone
brings in 32 billion
dollars annually
„ California agriculture
is responsible for
almost 1 in 10 jobs.

Agriculture is a business Agriculture is a business

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4 Problem areas for agriculture Erosion
„ Erosion „ Most productive layer of
soil is the top layer
„ Salinity „ Can be eroded away by
„ Water Supply wind and water
„ Soil conservation critical
„ Farmland Conversion for sustainable agriculture

http://www.answers.com/topic/agriculture

Salinity Water Supply

„ Salinization of arable land •Climate change is
is a increasing problem in predicted to generate
many irrigated, arid and warmer winters with
semi-arid parts of the less precipitation falling
world. as snow.
•Implications for
„ Much of the irrigated land irrigated agriculture.
in CA’s Central and Fields in Central California (west
Imperial Valleys is either San Joaquin Valley) with severe
salinization.
affected or threatened by
Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of
salinization Agriculture
www.centerforsustainability.org

Water Supply Farmland Conversion

„ Today’s main
topic…
… Causes
… Effects
… Prevention
strategies

Comic Source: Madden’s “The Beast that ate

the Earth”
Daniels and Bower. 1997. Holding our ground: protecting America’s
Farms and Farmland.

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Population Growth Population Growth - California

in thousands

Where people will live… Land availability - California

Wasteful land use

„ 1982-1997: U.S. Population grew by 17%;
urbanized land grew by 47%.
„ Over the past 20 years, amount of
acreage per person has doubled.
„ Since 1944, 10+ acre housing lots have
accounted for 55% of the land developed.