Yolo Land Trust (YLT) recently added two new agriculture conservation easements to its conservation portfolio. With the addition of these two easements, YLT has now permanently conserved 12,440 acres of agriculture land in Yolo County on a total of 74 easements.
Conservation Easement #73 is a 124-acre generational family farming operation planted with nut orchards, situated a half-mile outside of the northeast city limits of Davis. The second conservation easement added, Conservation Easement #74, is a 71-acre parcel located south of Woodland.
To secure funding for Conservation Easement #73, Yolo Land Trust partnered with the City of Davis and the California Department of Conservation’s Sustainable Agriculture Land Conservation (SALC) program. The SALC program’s intention is to protect prime farmland and encourage compact communities. “The SALC Program protects at-risk agricultural lands from sprawl development in order to promote growth within existing jurisdictions, ensure open space remains available, and support a healthy agricultural economy,” explains the California Department of Conservation.
This is the second conservation easement in YLT’s conservation portfolio that has utilized SALC funding. The City of Davis provided the matching funds for the SALC funding. “Partnering with the SALC program and the City of Davis on this project provided us with the necessary funding to conserve an important farm,” said Michele Clark, Yolo Land Trust Executive Director. “We are grateful to the owners for their commitment to agricultural conservation.”
At the request of the City of Davis, the owners agreed to reserve a public trail on the easement area for future use. The City of Davis explains the limited public trail will run along the channel and adjacent to the nut orchard north to County Road 29; and that the trail easement requires the City to first acquire legal public access from the City-owned Wildhorse agricultural buffer.
On the newest property, Conservation Easement #74, the land is currently planted for seed research and development. Seeds crops are an important component of Yolo County’s agri-business industry. In 2020, Yolo County reported seed crops produced over $54 million in sales, making up 8% of the commodity market. Although many different seeds are grown in Yolo County, the most beloved seed grown here is sunflower. Sunflower seeds are the sixth highest produced commodity with $33 million in sales in 2020. Sunflower seeds grown here are most commonly sold internationally for the production of sunflower seed oil.
Both easements are on the edge of city limits, preserving the agriculture landscape of our community. Agriculture is the leading industry in Yolo County and agricultural viability along with the small town, rural way of life are important to its residents, according to Yolo County’s Economic Development Division. Given their proximity to the development outline of the City of Davis and City of Woodland, these two conservations easements signify the importance the community places on preserving farmland. Neal Van Alfen, Yolo Land Trust Board President adds, “Conservation Easement #74 is adjacent to an easement already held in YLT’s conservation portfolio since 2004, and creates a larger block of contiguous farmland that will be a part of our community forever.”
Yolo Land Trust is excited to share the addition of these two new agriculture conservation easements. Over the last three years, YLT has acquired five agriculture conservation easements totaling 910.5 acres. Grant Davids, Yolo Land Trust Land Conservation Committee member, expresses his optimism and excitement for the ability to conserve more local agriculture land. “Starting off 2022 with two new easements sets YLT up for a great year ahead where it is anticipated we acquire at least one more easement by year end.”
Read more from the City of Davis press release.
