Last year, Governor Schwarzenegger slashed funding for the Williamson Act out of the California state budget, putting thousands of acres of the nation's best farmland at risk of development.

The Williamson Act is a nearly 50-year program that lowers the property taxes that landowners pay if they agree to sign a contract promising not to develop the land for 10 or 20 years. The land is protected from being paved over and farmers are better able to afford the land they grow on. The state makes up the difference by paying counties for the lost tax revenues.

When the reimbursements disappeared, counties absorbed the loss, but they don't seem willing to continue to do so. Imperial County has already opted out of participating in the program completely, and others have put moratoriums on new contracts. Senate Bill 863 passed in October and served as a stop-gap measure, allowing counties to shorten contracts from 10 years to 9 or from 20 years to 18 in exchange for a 10 percent gain in property tax revenue, and this year California has restored a quarter of the needed funding, but this is a band-aid, not a solution. It will still lead to more land being lost that otherwise might have been preserved.

Even before this budget cut, California was loosing farmland at an alarming rate. The American Farmland Trust estimated in 2007 that another 2 million acres could be lost by 2050. That number will surely become much worse if we don't fully restore Williamson Act funding. California grown nearly half of the country's fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Sign the petition now and ask the California government to ensure the food security of the entire nation by protecting California farmland now!

Photo: Markus