Walters: California agriculture industry spars over converting land to solar farms

The Imperial Irrigation District which provides water to farmers in the southeastern corner of California drew a figurative line in the sand earlier this month calling for a halt to the conversion of agricultural fields into solar panel farms Noting that more than acres of fertile land had already been converted the water district requested the Imperial County Board of Supervisors to protect productive farmland Our identity and market in the Imperial Valley are rooted in agriculture Gina Dockstader who chairs the district board reported in a declaration Solar resource has a role in our region s future but it cannot come at the cost of our farmland food supply or the families who depend on agriculture This resolution is about protecting our way of life Related Articles California s wind and solar projects face new federal hurdles Want to buy an EV or get rooftop solar What Trump s megabill means for you Letters Supreme Court upholds Trump s inhumane policies In a big bill that hurts clean force residential solar likely to get hit fast Solar bankruptcies show US clean resource industry is teetering on the brink The Imperial Valley conflict is one manifestation of an increasingly sharp debate within California s billion agricultural sector the largest of any state over what should happen as the acreage devoted to crops and livestock shrinks The state Department of Conservation says that agricultural lands declined by more than million acres between and averaging acres a year The most of productive land experienced the largest decline Urbanization the conversion of fields into homes and businesses accounted for most of of the decline but residential rise has slowed in latest years contributing to a chronic housing shortage Other factors such as labor shortages production costs and uncertain water supplies have created what industry leaders say is a predicament The Masses Plan Institute of California has estimated that the not long ago imposed limits on tapping underground aquifers to irrigate crops will aftermath in acres of farmland being taken out of production More in recent weeks President Donald Trump s imposition of tariffs and a crackdown on undocumented immigrants have put more pressure on the agricultural industry As farmers particularly the larger corporate growers take land out of production several believe that their economic salvation lies in solar panel arrays that generate the emission-free electricity that the state wants as it phases out power fueled by hydrocarbons However that doesn t sit well with farmers who want to continue production as the Imperial Irrigation District s call for a solar moratorium implies Like multiple conflicts this one has landed in the Capitol in the form of law Assembly Bill would make it easier for farmers whose lands are contractually obligated to remain open space under the Williamson Act to avoid paying the heavy penalties required by law The Williamson Act enacted six decades ago to slow the sprawl of urban enhancement into farmlands gives farmers hefty breaks on property taxes on land they maintain as open space AB would specifically declare that farmers can replace crops with solar farms without incurring penalties if the owner is experiencing water shortages The bill is backed by the solar power industry environmentalists labor unions and plenty of large farmers The California Farm Bureau and family farm groups oppose it arguing that it will undermine the Williamson Act because almost any farmer can declare a water shortage given the chronic uncertainty of California water supplies Emulating the Imperial Irrigation District s stance opponents say wholesale conversion of farmland into solar farms will devastate rural communities that depend on agriculture for jobs Politically it s a David vs Goliath conflict AB carried by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks D-Oakland has been moving briskly through the legislative process It s already cleared the Assembly and is likely to hit the Senate floor soon The solar farm displacement issue is only one of countless factors that will determine the future of agriculture in California The larger existential issue deserves more political attention than it s getting Dan Walters is a CalMatters columnist