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Board adopts agriculture crisis resolution and multi-department work plan to support farmers and farmworker housing
Summary
The board approved a joint resolution recognizing an agriculture viability crisis and directed departments to pursue regulatory and programmatic changes: VESCO replant/fallowing pathways, low-impact camping and event-threshold updates, conservation easements, stewardship assistance, buy-protect-sell pilots, ag parks and farmworker housing incentives.
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on June 2 adopted a joint resolution and multi-department work plan intended to strengthen agricultural viability, streamline certain permitting pathways and expand land-access and affordability tools for producers.
Agricultural staff presented a short- and mid-term timetable of actions developed by an ad hoc working group after an April workshop. Proposed next steps include opening Chapter 36 (the Vineyard Erosion and Sediment Control Ordinance) to clarify definitions for "cultivated lands," create a replant pathway for disturbed footprints, and formally recognize fallowing as an agricultural activity where appropriate. Permit Sonoma said it would pursue code updates to allow low-impact camping, revisit event-threshold rules that can inadvertently classify small, social-media-driven gatherings as events, and develop clearer permit guidance and technical assistance for ag housing applications.
Ag and Open Space staff outlined tools to increase land affordability and access: simplifying conservation-easement language, piloting a buy-protect-sell program to acquire farmland and resell to eligible farmers at agricultural value, and evaluating an agricultural park model with affordable leases and incubator space. UC Cooperative Extension proposed co-hosting a food-security convening to assess impacts of federal CalFresh changes and to coordinate local food system resilience.
Public commenters raised a range of issues: cannabis growers asked that cannabis be treated like other agricultural uses in forthcoming code adjustments; food security advocates urged more work to boost affordable local food production; farmworker housing advocates and supervisors emphasized the need to expedite permits and technical assistance for farmworker housing.
The board directed staff to attach the multi-department work plan to the resolution and approved the document by unanimous vote. Staff will return with ordinance drafts, pilot program details and recommended timelines for implementation.
