"I’m in my 60s and I’m a United States farmer," said Rick Shade of Shade Farm Management.
Shade is a sixth-generation Carpinteria avocado grower worried about the future of farmland in Santa Barbara County.
"The farm population is getting gray," said Shade.
With 95% of California’s farms being family-owned, according to USDA ag census data, aging out is a threat, along with the development of new housing.
"The concentration tipping point. I'm worried about happening here. However, if too much development happens, it will just cascade down, and everybody will be gone," said Shade.
Development is consuming an average of 40,000 acres of agricultural land per year in California - according to the California Department of Agriculture and American Farmland Trust.
This year the State Department of Housing and Development mandated Santa Barbara County identify potential areas for more than 5,000 new housing units in unincorporated county areas according to Alex Tuttle with County Planning and Development.
"We looked at current, pending projects in the pipeline and identified a shortfall of about 2,000 units. For comparison, last housing cycle the shortfall was around 600 units," said Tuttle.
The board of supervisors voted to rezone 25 sites in Santa Barbara County to accommodate housing needs. Tuttle said two sites in Carpinteria and three in Santa Barbara were rezoned from agriculture to housing which is 273 acres in total.
"That's where rezoning comes into play. If there was not a willing property owner rezoning the site would essentially be useless," explains Tuttle.
The State Housing Element Update is a mandated component of a General State Plan to expand housing in California.
"We don’t want to lose the ability to produce our food," said Shade.
This is the sixth Housing Element cycle covering 2023-2031.
