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Published on: 1/2/2002
Last Visited: 1/4/2002
''The Inland Empire is tops on the list,'' said Erik Vink, who heads the state Department of Conservation's land-protection division.
Riverside County -- still the state's ninth most-productive farm county for its milk, citrus and vegetables -- paved more than 15,000 acres of farmland from 1998 to 2000, Vink said.He said Inland Empire cities -- such as Corona, Moreno Valley, Temecula, Chino and Ontario -- are fast filling rural spaces with suburban commuter housing.
Vink cited similar-scale farmland conversions in the East Bay and Sacramento County.Indeed, as California's farm economy struggles with low commodity prices, suburban roof lines are more common in old farm towns such as Tracy, Los Banos and Clovis.On former vineyards along the Central Valley's Highway 99, Manteca, Turlock and Selma grow auto malls and regional shopping centers.
Though 2001's 50,000 acres represent a bare fraction of California's 9 million irrigated acres, experts warn that one-third of those being paved are the state's best soils.And some warn that the state needs a far-reaching growth plan, possibly to steer development into foothills and away from the Central, Salinas and Santa Maria valleys and Oxnard Plain.