21095.5.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(1) California is the nation’s leader in food production and contributes significantly to both national and global food security.
(2) California agricultural production depends on soil, water, and climate conditions found in one of only five Mediterranean growing regions on Earth.
(3) Dependent on land and natural resources, California agriculture is uniquely vulnerable to global warming. Global warming poses a serious threat to California agriculture with rising temperatures, constrained water resources, increases in extreme weather events, reduced winter chilling hours, and rising sea levels.
(4) California agriculture is also uniquely positioned to provide climate benefits by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Research funded by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research program found that an acre of irrigated cropland emits 70 times fewer greenhouse gas emissions than an acre of urban land.
(5) California’s growing population places additional demands on both our food supply and on the development of agricultural land for nonagricultural purposes. An average of approximately 30,000 acres of California agricultural land is permanently converted to nonagricultural uses every year.
(6) The preservation of a maximum amount of the limited supply of agricultural land is necessary for conservation of the state’s natural resources, the maintenance of the agricultural economy of the state, and the assurance of an adequate, healthy, and nutritious food supply for the residents of this state and nation.
(7) California’s statewide land use planning priorities include the goal of protecting, preserving, and enhancing the state’s most valuable natural resources, including working landscapes such as farm, range, and forest lands as described in Section 65041.1 of the Government Code.
(8) Through the California Land Conservation Act of 1965 (Article 1 (commencing with Section 51200) of Chapter 7 of Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 5 of the Government Code), California has provided legal and financial incentives for farmers and ranchers to keep land in agricultural production, thereby discouraging the premature and unnecessary conversion of agricultural land to urban uses and discouraging discontiguous urban development patterns that unnecessarily increase the costs of community services.
(9) Since 1998, California has invested in the protection of agricultural lands near urban areas through the California Farmland Conservancy Program Act (Division 10.2 (commencing with Section 10200)) recognizing that conservation of these lands is necessary due to increasing development pressures and the effects of urbanization on farmland close to cities.
(10) This division requires the analysis and adoption of feasible mitigation for projects with significant effects on agricultural resources.
(11) Local entities play a vital role in regulating the use of land under their jurisdiction, including the conservation of agricultural lands through appropriate zoning and planning activities, as well as determinations of the potential environmental impacts of proposed land use changes.
(12) Despite the analysis and mitigation requirements of this division with respect to projects that result in agricultural land conversion, lead agencies do not consistently require feasible mitigation for agricultural land conversion impacts.
(13) The conversion of agricultural land, as defined in Section 56016 of the Government Code, to nonagricultural uses without appropriate mitigation negatively affects California’s economic development, natural resources, social and economic equity, and environmental quality.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to reaffirm the state’s intention, under this division, that a lead agency should impose all feasible mitigation measures to address the significant impacts on agricultural lands or resources from development and provide for the permanent protection of replacement agricultural land or resources through permanent agricultural conservation easements, which may constitute feasible mitigation under this division.