AFFINITY FOR AGRICULTURE; SURVEY SHOWS RESIDENTS WANT FARMLAND PROTECTED.Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer Ventura County residents strongly favor protecting farmland as a buffer to development and as a way to ensure that agriculture remains an economic force in the area, a survey released Tuesday shows. But when it came to spending taxpayers' money to keep acreage as farmland, the poll found that residents were less enthusiastic. ``The survey indicated that we did lose some support when it came down to the point of actually taxing homeowners,'' said Sheri Klittich, an administrator for the University of California The University of California has a combined student body of more than 191,000 students, over 1,340,000 living alumni, and a combined systemwide and campus endowment of just over $7.3 billion (8th largest in the United States). Hansen Trust of Ventura, which conducted the survey. Of the 404 Ventura County residents surveyed by telephone in November, 77 percent said more should be done to protect farmland. In three follow-up questions, respondents were split on whether preservation should involve more taxes, more work by local governments or using public funds See Fund, 3. See also: Public . The survey concludes that even with strong support for agricultural preservation, it is unlikely a tax measure for land acquisition would get the two-thirds majority vote needed to pass. The survey, conducted by Strong Associates of Oakland, was not done to gauge support for any particular plan, Klittich said. It was part of the Hansen Trust's ongoing efforts to generate interest in sustaining the county's agricultural and natural resources. The trust was established in 1993 by Thelma Hansen, a Santa Paula Santa Paula (săn`tə pôl`ə), city (1990 pop. 25,062), Ventura co., S Calif., on the Santa Clara River in a fertile valley that yields citrus fruits, avocados, vegetables, flowers, nursery products, and walnuts; laid out 1875, inc. resident and member of the Saticoy farming family. Part of agriculture's appeal is the public's perception of its role as an antidote antidote Remedy to counteract the effects of a poison or toxin. Administered by mouth, intravenously, or sometimes on the skin, it may work by directly neutralizing the poison; causing an opposite effect in the body; binding to the poison to prevent its absorption, to urban sprawl. Seven percent of the county's farmland has been lost to other uses such as homes, offices and parking lots during the past quarter century, the survey states. This was viewed as a bad trend by 54 percent of respondents and a good trend by 20 percent. The survey revealed that the public viewed growth and overcrowding overcrowding overcrowding of animal accommodation. Many countries now publish codes of practice which define what the appropriate volumetric allowances should be for each species of animal when they are housed indoors. Breaches of these codes is overcrowding. as a close second to crime/gangs/drugs as the most serious problem facing the county. And both the agricultural economy and environmental concerns topped economic growth in relative importance. As one survey respondent said: ``We don't want to turn (Ventura County) into another urban Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. - traffic jams, pollution, crime.'' Despite concerns about disappearing farmland, a majority of those surveyed said the county's environment and scenic beauty has not changed much recently compared to an improving economy and worsening wors·en tr. & intr.v. wors·ened, wors·en·ing, wors·ens To make or become worse. Noun 1. worsening - process of changing to an inferior state decline in quality, deterioration, declension crime situation. If each household were taxed an additional $26 a year, most people would rather have the money go toward more police (72 percent) than protecting 500 acres of farmland (63 percent). However, there is little disagreement on the importance of agriculture's role in Ventura County's economy. About 90 percent of those surveyed listed agriculture as the leading economic force, placing it well ahead of military/aerospace, development construction and tourism. ``Agriculture has been the No. 1 industry in Ventura County since its inception,'' said Chief Deputy Agriculture Commissioner David Buettner. ``We want it to remain that way.'' The top 10 crops in 1995, led by lemons, strawberries, celery celery, biennial plant (Apium graveolens) of the family Umbelliferae (parsley family), of wide distribution in the wild state throughout the north temperate Old World and much cultivated also in America. and avocados, produced a combined value of about $790 million, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. an annual crop report. While agriculture's economic contributions are obvious, Buettner said it is somewhat misguided mis·guid·ed adj. Based or acting on error; misled: well-intentioned but misguided efforts; misguided do-gooders. mis·guid for people to see farmland as a way to keep development in check. ``People would like to think of agriculture as a buffer between the open spaces and urban sprawl, but what we consider is more of the viability of agriculture itself,'' he said. Still, almost 80 percent of those surveyed favor zoning controls such as land-use designations or green belt agreements as ways to preserve agriculture. CAPTION(S): 3 Photos Photo: (1--color in SIMI SIMI Sea Ice Mechanics Initiative SIMI Search for Intelligent Monkeys on the Internet SIMI Students Islamic Movement in India SIMI Society of Irish Motor Industry SIMI Smallholder Irrigation Markets Initiative and CONEJO editions only) A farm worker carries a container full of strawberries in a Camarillo field. (2--color in SIMI and CONEJO only) Homes in Camarillo overlook strawberry pickers working in rows of the crop. (3--ran in SIMI only) In Ventura County in 1995, strawberries were No. 2 among the top 10 crops, which produced a combined value of about $790 million. Michael Owen
|
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion