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III. Environmental Setting, Impacts, and Mitigations J. Geology,Soils and Seismicity Prime farmland, as defined by the U.S.D.A.is the land that is best suited to food,feed,forage, fiber, and oilseed crops.1 It may be cultivated land,pasture,woodland, or other land,but it is not urban or built-up land or water areas. It either is used for food or fiber crops or is available for those crops. The soil qualities,growing season, and moisture supply are those needed for a well managed soil to produce a sustained high yield of crops in an economic manner. Prime farmland produces the highest yields with minimal expenditure of energy and economic resources,and farming it results in the least damage to the environment. It has an adequate and dependable supply of moisture from precipitation or irrigation. About 55 percent of the total acreage of the San Joaquin County Soil Survey study area(total of 494,000 acres)would meet the soil requirements for prime farmland if an adequate and dependable supply of irrigation water were available(U.S.D.A. S.C.S., 1992). A recent trend in land use in some parts of the county has been the loss of some prime farmland to industrial and urban uses. San Joaquin County contains large areas of highly productive soils which are capable of producing a wide variety of crops and agricultural and related activities are a major portion of the economic base. The 1992 County General Placa indicates that increased demand for residential property,combined with low prices for agricultural products and rising costs of farming,have created pressure for farmland conversion. As a result large portions of the County's inventory of prime agricultural land area being considered for development by land owners or builders(San Joaquin County, 1992). The loss of prime farmland to other uses puts pressure on marginal lands,which are generally more erodible,droughty,and less productive and cannot be easily cultivated. 1 The California Government Code Provisions relating to the California Land Conservation Act of 1965 (The Williamson Act)Section 51201 defines"Prime Agricultural land"to mean any of the following: (1) All land which qualifies for rating as class I or class H in the Soil Conservation Service land use capability classifications. (2) Land which qualifies for rating 80 through 100 in the Storie Index Rating. (3) Land which supports livestock used for the production of food and fiber and which has an annual carrying capacity equivalent to at least one animal unit per acre as defined by the United States Department of Agriculture. (4) Land planted with fruit-or nut-bearing trees, vines,bushes or crops which have a nonbearing period of less than five years and which will normally return during the commercial bearing period on an annual basis from the production of unprocessed agricultural plant production not less than two hundred dollars($200)per acre. (5) Land which has returned from the production of unprocessed agricultural plant products an annual gross value of not less than two hundred dollars($200)per acre for three of the previous five years. III.J.4