Post by Logan on Feb 4, 2016 4:30:33 GMT -6
HALF MOON BAY, CA -- Worried that artichokes, Brussels sprouts and strawberries are losing ground to trophy homes and subdivisions, a Bay Area conservation group that has spent much of the past 38 years saving land for parks and wildlife is launching a new effort to help a different species: farmers on the San Mateo County coast.
The Peninsula Open Space Trust, a nonprofit organization based in Palo Alto, on Thursday plans to announce it will spend $25 million over the next 10 years on a campaign to triple the amount of protected farmland between Pacifica and the Santa Cruz County line.
The idea is to set in motion a kind of reverse sprawl.
Since 1984, the Bay Area's nine counties have lost nearly 200,000 acres of cropland, orchards and vineyards, much of it to development. In San Mateo County, which has some of the most expensive land in the United States, there's been a 35 percent drop of such farmland over the same time period, from 7,815 acres in 1984 to 5,121 now, according to the state Department of Conservation.
www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_29474268/25-million-effort-save-farmland-san-mateo-county
The Peninsula Open Space Trust, a nonprofit organization based in Palo Alto, on Thursday plans to announce it will spend $25 million over the next 10 years on a campaign to triple the amount of protected farmland between Pacifica and the Santa Cruz County line.
The idea is to set in motion a kind of reverse sprawl.
Since 1984, the Bay Area's nine counties have lost nearly 200,000 acres of cropland, orchards and vineyards, much of it to development. In San Mateo County, which has some of the most expensive land in the United States, there's been a 35 percent drop of such farmland over the same time period, from 7,815 acres in 1984 to 5,121 now, according to the state Department of Conservation.
www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_29474268/25-million-effort-save-farmland-san-mateo-county