Agriculture represents over 40% of Monterey County’s total economy. For agriculture and its related industries to survive, we must recognize the need to preserve and maintain agriculture’s basic resource: land. At present, development pressures are irretrievably converting Monterey County’s land from that of productive agricultural use.

Ag Land Trust has exceeded the milestone of 20,000 acres in recorded easements. In fact, our last nine recorded easements in 2007 and 2008 totaled 4,258 acres, bringing the total Monterey County farmland property under easement to just above 20,000 acres. Value of the annual agriculture productivity from these protected properties exceeds $200,000,000 per year. The Ag Land Trust has protected more irrigated farmland and has been more effective in redirecting city growth towards less desirable farmland than any other agricultural land trust in California.