California's land, water, air and wildlife all benefit from the management practices undertaken by farmers and ranchers. Yet the benefits provided by the voluntary efforts of farmers and ranchers could be lost forever as California's population continues to grow.
As our members work to conserve and enhance the natural resources integral to their operations, Farm Bureau is committed to conveying the important public benefits a working landscape provides, such as wildlife habitat, preserved open space, improved air quality, water and soil resources, carbon sequestration and a safe, nutritious and affordable food supply.
Farm Bureau Encourages
- Protecting the integrity of the Williamson Act, the state's most successful farmland preservation program, which encourages landowners to keep land in agricultural production
- Enforcing the California Environmental Quality Act to conserve farming and ranching resources as a part of the existing environment
- Right-to-farm ordinances that allow existing farms and ranches to maintain their operations as urban areas encroach upon them
- Conducting research to develop an environmental trading program that recognizes the positive contributions made by farmers and ranchers to reduce greenhouse gases
- Enhancing wildlife on working farms and ranches where it can safely co-exist with the products grown
- Promoting healthy rangelands and forests through cooperative management of public lands between government agencies and the individuals who harvest timber or graze livestock
- Maintaining flood-protection systems in order to protect public safety, wildlife habitat and open space
- Statewide infrastructure projects that take into account optimal compatibility with farms and ranches
