COUNTY SUPERVISORS MOVE TO PRESERVE MORE AREA FARMLAND

Changes approved in agricultural program to cut further losses

More San Diego farmland will be eligible for an agricultural conservation program under new rules the San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved Wednesday.

San Diego has lost much of its farmland over the past decade. Since 2009, about 60,000 acres — 20 percent of the county’s agricultural land — has been converted to other uses.

The county has tried to stem that decline through the Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement, which is called the PACE program.

It was originally intended to compensate rural land owners for zoning changes to their property under the county’s 2011 general plan. Participating property owners would receive a one-time payment in return for granting the county easements on their land, ensuring that it remains in agricultural use.

Despite that effort, about 30 percent of PACE applicants were not eligible under the previous rules, and the number of applications submitted dropped from 60 during the pilot program in 2012 to just 12 applications in 2020, Planning and Development Services Deputy Director Rami Talleh said.

The county supervisors voted unanimously Wednesday to approve changes to PACE that will increase the amount of eligible farmland more than six-fold, from about 101,000 acres to 628,000 acres countywide.

The supervisors also adjusted participation criteria to emphasize the agricultural and habitat value of conserving the land.

To qualify for the program, land must be actively farmed or ranched for at least two years before an application is submitted, and it must fall into one of several rural or agricultural zones.

Zoning changes introduced in 2011 meant that some land was designated at lower density, allowing fewer homes per acre, and some landowners lost the right to subdivide land their property altogether.

The updated rules will remove properties’ general plan status as an application criteria, so density and subdivision factors won’t be part of the equation for eligibility. Instead, the new rules will prioritize a land’s agricultural value, with a secondary emphasis on farmland that can serve as buffers to wildlife conservation areas.

Additional priorities will include a property’s potential to reduce greenhouse gases, compatibility with neighboring land use, and voluntary wildlife enhancements.

The changes approved Wednesday also will add a monitoring process for land in the program, allowing the county to apply for state and federal grants for agricultural land conservation.

Officials hope the changes will increase participation in the program and sustain more agricultural lands in San Diego.

So far, 2,405 acres of farmland have been preserved through the program, with $6.5 million paid to land owners, Talleh said.

San Diego County’s agricultural production totaled $1.79 billion in 2019.

deborah.brennan@ sduniontribune.com