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constitutes land "with the best combination of physical/chemical charac- <br /> teristics for crop production and the soil quality, growing season an <br /> moisture needed to produce sustained high yields of crops," (U.S. <br /> Department of Agriculture 1978) . <br /> Due to rotation practices and changing agricultural economies and <br /> ownership, a great variety of crops have been grown on the site. These <br /> include peppers, kidney beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, wheat and sugar <br /> beets at present. Similar crops are produced in the surrounding <br /> farmlands. All of these annual crops are typically rotated in three to <br /> four year cycles. Sugar beets are planted no more than two years in ten <br /> and have been recently rotated with tomatoes, peppers and beans. The <br /> standard rotation cycle consists of planting a summer crop of alfalfa, <br /> followed by a winter grain, then a spring/summer bean or sugar beet crop. <br /> A fall fallow period follows. Then tomatoes or corn are planted in the <br /> early spring, repeated by grain in the fall , another grain crop like corn <br /> in the spring, concluding with a summer fallow season (U.C. Agricultural <br /> Extension Service 1987) . Alfalfa is planted for soil conditioning <br /> purposes and is treated like an annual crop in the rotation cycle. <br /> Fallow periods are not intended for soil quality enhancement, but for <br /> disease control (Johnston 1988) . Crops are dusted twice in the summer <br /> with sulfur to prevent fungus. This is part of a regular pesticide <br /> application used periodically through the summer season. <br /> The project site, like most agricultural land in San Joaquin <br /> County, is presently in "agricultural preserve" status (Williamson Act <br /> Contract No. 71-C1-35) . Such land is held in exclusive agricultural use, <br /> the owner having entered into a Williamson Act contract with the County <br /> beginning in 1971 to assure its continuance as farmland for renewable 10- <br /> year intervals. <br /> The project is not anticipated to have any significant implications <br /> for land value in the vicinity of the parcel , since it is being proposed <br /> to operate in a farming area, (whose land values are currently in the <br /> $2,500 to 53,000/acre range) , and the use is relatively compatible. No <br /> measurable effect on adjacent property values are expected (Rudolf 1988) . <br /> 3-4 <br /> 104-3.R4 4/13/89 <br />