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14 <br /> DRAFT/March 28,2025 <br /> Figure 2. Representative verbatim responses regarding what respondents considered the most <br /> important threat to farming to the County in the 2023 Orange County Farmer and Landowner <br /> Survey <br /> "As farmers age out and are dying, "Encroaching urban areas, "Housing development.This...leads <br /> their heirs are selling land to cash farmland/forest land being sold to to increased cost of land and <br /> out on its purchase value to developers for multi-family homes decreased value of land for <br /> developers.More housing and multi-family developments agricultural purposes.There's a lot <br /> complexes are being built on instead of being kept in <br /> farmland while we are losing our farm/forest" more money in selling the land for <br /> resources for soil,foodshed,and 5-10 acre lots than keeping it as an <br /> farms.This will create a crisis for «[D]evelopment,particularly <br /> intact farm.None of the land I see <br /> both our environment and local <br /> sprawling development that <br /> ecosystem as well as for food encourages large(ao acre) for sale around me is selling as <br /> production and water retention and lots. The county development farmland.It's simply not worth it. <br /> filtering.We need to stop policies should encourage It's subdivided into plots and houses <br /> developing every square inch of the clusters of homes leaving a <br /> county?It took me 20 years of large percent of open space are built.This leads to ecosystem <br /> working two jobs and investing to rather than making it easy to deterioration which decreases the <br /> scrape together a down payment for develop io acre lots,s acre quality of farmland as well.I'm in <br /> my small little farm.It should not lots. The problems of sprawl <br /> be like this.There needs to be more in our county are the far northern reaches of the <br /> done to save our farmland and COMPLETELYpredietable county....This is not isolated <br /> counteract incentives to sell to based on the policies in place towards the southern more urban <br /> developers." currently." parts of the county" <br /> American Farmland Trust projections show that, if historical trends in farmland <br /> conversion from 2001 to 2016 hold true through 2040 in a Business as Usual <br /> scenario, Orange County will lose an additional 14,300 acres of farmland to <br /> development (Hunter, 2022; American Farmland Trust, 2022). In a Runaway <br /> Sprawl scenario characterized by low-density development and poor planning, <br /> Orange County is projected to lose an additional 19,900 acres to development <br /> (Figure 3). Most of that farmland conversion---70% of it through 2040---is <br /> predicted to occur on the County's most productive farmland. <br /> Figure 3. Projected conversion of Orange County farmland to development through 2040 <br /> (Hunter, 2022; American Farmland Trust, 2022) <br /> Business as Usual:14,300 acres Runaway Sprawl:19,900 <br /> of farmland lost of farmland lost <br /> :4 <br /> Converted from <br /> - Farmland* <br /> _ to Development <br /> 54 <br /> i <br /> ht(ps://deVelgpmen[204p.farmtland.org/ 'Farmland=rrgpland+pasture+wgodfand as5griated wish farms <br /> 12 <br />