Supervisors approve board policy encouraging farming

The support of farming by the County of San Diego government doesn’t require the Board of Supervisors approval of a policy supporting and encouraging farming in San Diego County. The May 11 adoption of the policy, however, may assist local farmers in obtaining farm conservation program grants from the US Department of Agriculture.

“That’s to help them with Federal funds,” said Supervisor Bill Horn, who is also an avocado and citrus grower.

When the United States Congress reauthorized the Farm Bill in 2002, Congress introduced and enacted several economic incentive programs which encourage farmers to address farming and environmental quality. Congress also recognizes the importance of protecting farmlands from urbanization and believes that the creation of private-public partnerships can play a significant role in the protection of the nation’s natural resources.

“If we get these conservation funds, it actually benefits the entire community,” said Eric Larson, the executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau.

The trend in Washington is to move away from price supports and toward farm conservation programs. That could work to the benefit of San Diego County, which has nine remaining dairies and no cotton, soy, or corn growers. Price supports currently account for 0.0008 percent of San Diego County’s agricultural income.

The annual agricultural products of San Diego County total approximately $1.3 billion, and with the economic multiplier the economic impact of local agriculture reaches $4.8 billion. Although San Diego County is an urban county, more than 265,000 acres are in farm production and agriculture is the county’s fifth-largest economic sector. San Diego’s 5,255 farms rank third of any county in the United States.

San Diego’s total agricultural production ranks eighth among California counties, and the county leads the state in nursery products, flowers and foliages, and avocados. In San Diego County 92 percent of the farms are family-owned and 77 percent of farmers live on their land.

Although the region’s climate and geographic resources allow San Diego County farmers to be adept at responding to changing market conditions, farms are threatened by water costs, invasion of foreign pests and diseases, and competition for land with urban development. The county’s Department of Planning and Land Use, the Department of Agriculture Weights and Measures, and the Farm and Home Advisor have been working together along with the San Diego County Farm Bureau to create a policy to support and encourage farming in the unincorporated area of the county.

The State of California also implements some farmland incentive programs, including the California Farmland Conservancy Program, which complement and leverage Federal programs.

The true impact would occur when Congress passes the 2007 Farm Bill, but the board policy encouraging farming in San Diego County — including the establishment of partnerships with landowners and other stakeholders to identify, secure, and implement incentives to support the continuation of farming as one of the county’s major industries — could help bring some of those dollars to San Diego County.

“The County of San Diego is going to take an active role,” Larson said. “This policy’s the first step in making that, starting to make that happen.”