Nearly a decade ago, the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District recognized a shortcoming in its land protection program, which seeks to preserve agricultural land through conservation easements that prevent subdivision and residential development. Agency staff typically worked with large agricultural properties, like dairies, cattle ranches and vineyards — properties more effective to preserve in terms of staff time and cost per acre.
But the approach often meant that the group worked with people who already owned land, often passed down through the generations.
“It meant there were wide ranges of the Sonoma County population that we didn’t have a chance to interact with as directly,” says Mary Chambers, agricultural specialist at Sonoma County Ag + Open Space. “And when you look at how inequitably land ownership is distributed in the U.S. and in Sonoma County — I think it’s like over 95% of farmland in the U.S. is owned by white people.”
Chambers says those numbers allowed the group to reflect on how their work is limited when they work only with existing landowners. They decided to seek out other tools to create opportunities for new landowners when farmland is being sold.
In 2024, to target small-scale fruit and veggie farmers, Sonoma County Ag + Open Space launched a new pilot program called “Buy-Protect-Sell.” Modeled on a similar program in San Mateo County, the idea is “to have more equitable land access to smaller farm property,” Chambers says.
Interested Sonoma County farmers are submitting applications to the program this spring. Later this year, the county agency aims to buy a piece of property, probably between 5 and 50 acres, and secure a conservation easement on the land, and possibly a covenant to the deed to encourage row-crop farming. The agency is also exploring adding an affordability covenant, something Ag + Open Space has never tried before, that would prevent the land from being flipped for a higher price.
By the end of 2025, one farmer will be selected, based on need and contributions to the community, to purchase the new property at a much cheaper price than they could access on the open market.
For Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, the program is the culmination of principles she’s advocated for since being elected to the board in 2017. Working with then-Ag + Open Space general manager Bill Keene, she was trying to find a way to support small farmers. “It felt like it took forever to actually get the policy across the finish line, and now it’s ‘go time,’ which is exciting.”
If the pilot program succeeds, look for more Buy-Protect-Sell projects down the road.
“I hope this becomes a staple of the Ag + Open Space District,” Hopkins says.
For more information on the Buy-Protect-Sell program, visit sonomaopenspace.org/OUR-IMPACT/BUY-PROTECT-SELL.