Public issues at the farm-city interface are among the most important policy decisions facing California. A new 80-page Center publication explores those issues. The summarized proceedings of a conference held recently in Sacramento, the report focuses on:
¥ Technological developments and farming practices that help individual farmers co-exist with their urban neighbors.
¥ Land use planning, community design and other public sector techniques that help preserve farmland and maintain a viable agriculture, particularly near urbanized areas.
The publication provides the views of a dozen experts in fields ranging from biotechnology to local government and legislative policy. Leadoff contributors are UC Davis chancellor Larry N. Vanderhoef ("Regional Planning: Is It Even Possible?"), Jack J. Pandol, Jr., farmer and former undersecretary, Cal-EPA, and Steve Sanders, a legislative chief of staff. Other contributors include UC biologists, engineers, animal scientists and farm advisors; farmland preservation and land use planners, consultants and activists; and local government and industry officials.
A concluding chapter is by Alvin D. Sokolow, extension public policy specialist, UC Davis.
This is the second Center publication dealing with public policy challenges at the farm-city interface. The first, Farmers and Neighbors: Land Use, Pesticides and Other Issues, explored concerns on both sides, pesticide use in particular. This latest report looks in detail at possible solutions involving technology and land use planning.
California's Future: Maintaining Viable Agriculture at the Urban Edge is now available from the Center for $15. Also available are the previous report (Farmers and Neighbors) for $13; and a background information video for $15.