CFCP - Focus on Farmland Newsletter

Focus on Farmland

The Focus on Farmland Newsletter

Due to a combination of increasing easement project workload and decreasing discretionary funds, CFCP has suspended publication of our newsletter until further notice. This allows the CFCP staff to focus on our core work of funding projects in cooperation with our conservation partners. We will continue to post information on our recently completed projects on this page.

Send us your email address if you'd like to receive future communications via email.

Click here to view past editions of Focus on Farmland.

2011 and 2012, Completion of Projects in Many Regions

2011 CFCP easement in Butte County

While there has been no newsletter published by the CFCP in the past year, we have been busily completing easement projects! A total of 17 easements were completed since December 2010. This is by far the largest cohort of projects in the program's history.

To a degree, this success was rooted in a 2008 stop work order that affected the state's bond-funded projects--a number of easements were delayed while the status of bond funds was sorted out in 2009 and 2010. The USDA Farm and Ranchland Protection Program partnered with CFCP on ten of the completed easements.

The projects represent the range of California's premier crops and almost all are located on Prime agricultural soils:

San Joaquin Valley

Fresno County - 89 acres of tree fruit near Kingsburg.

Kern County - 571 acres of almonds near Wasco. A celebration of this easement and its neighboring easement was held in February 2012.

Kings County - 153 acres of almonds and pistachios near Hanford.

Merced County - 212 acres of almonds near the City of Merced, and 244 acres of sweet potatoes near Livingston.

San Joaquin County - 174 acres of walnut and cherry orchards near Stockton.

Stanislaus County - 151 acres of almonds and grapes near Modesto.
A poster of the easements in Merced, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus counties is available.

San Francisco Bay and Central Coast

Contra Costa County - 132 acres of vegetable crops near Brentwood.

Marin County - more than 1,000 acres of coastal rangeland land near Tomales.

Santa Barbara County - 395 acres of vegetables, nuts, and seed crops near Lompoc.

Santa Cruz County - 75 acres of apples near Watsonville.

Solano County - 595 acres of crop land near Winters.

Northern California and Eastern Sierra

Butte County - 145 acres of orchards near Chico.

Mono County - 719 acres of pasture near Bridgeport.

Siskiyou County - More than 4,000 acres of alfalfa, pasture and grazing land near Etna.

Sutter County - 189 acres of rice and waterfowl habitat near LincolnTehama County - 530 acres of alfalfa, corn, and various other crops near Red Bluff.

Other Changes at CFCP

In September 2010, CFCP's founding leader Charles Tyson left the Department of Conservation to work on the California Department of Water Resources' Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta planning efforts. His role in CFCP's development and his high standards continue to contribute to the program's ongoing success. Replacing Mr. Tyson is Molly Penberth, who for many years shepherded the Farmland Mapping and Monitoring Program (FMMP), also housed in the Division of Land Resources Protection. She continues to serve as FMMP manager along with her new CFCP responsibilities.

Thank you for your interest!

Division of Land Resource Protection