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population density increases. If additional rural residential development is permitted in the general area, there is a rationale for focusing it in the study area, that rationale being that the explicit decision to develop there might preclude residential development and parcelization of the larger orchard units in the vicinity. A firm decision to focus further rural residential development in the study area might then effectively reduce the potential pressures for development of adjoining agricultural lands in the area. Conversion of these lands to rural residential use is not individually significant, but could be cumulatively significant. However, production levels are already being affected by cultural and management constraints placed upon farm operators. Both of the major tree crops located in the study area, apricots and walnuts, currently exhibit strong overproduction tendencies. The loss of these producing orchards will not seriously diminish the availability of either commodity to users and consumers in the short run. In the long run, there are ample opportunities to bring new acreages into production in other areas of the County and State. The loss of prime agricultural soils is unfortunate, yet the potential productive capacity of the soils on parcels in the study area is already diminished because of the pattern of development that has occurred over the recent past. At the County level, the loss of 400+ acres of prime soils would not greatly diminish the County's current inventory of 3,215 acres of E1 Solyo clay loam and 11,420 acres of Stomar clay loam. It may be more prudent to actively protect similar soils in areas not yet as fragmented by mixed residential and agricultural uses. From an agricultural economics perspective there is a basis to permit the General Plan Amendment for the Traina Brothers application. This amendment may, however, send a message of approval for other applications in the study area. However, the Traina Brothers application is not the keystone to the preservation of economically viable agriculture in the study area. The major direction for parcelization appears to have been accomplished over the past 35 years. MITIGATION MEASURES. The following mitigation measures are recommended to minimize agricultural impacts, although no measure is possible to mitigate the impact of removing prime agricultural land from production. - In order to minimize nuisance conflicts, setbacks and buffer areas should be included as conditions of approval for Rural Residential subdivisions adjacent to agricultural operations. - The County's right -to -farm ordinance should be referenced in the State Department of Real Estate public report for all Rural Residential subdivisions. 3.2-4