Agricultural Protection Planning Grant Program: local food producers.

Existing law establishes the Agricultural Protection Planning Grant Program within the Department of Conservation, to provide planning grants to improve the protection of agricultural lands and grazing lands, including oak woodlands and grasslands. Existing law provides these planning grants to, among other things, maintain local food supplies and agricultural economies through the protection of agricultural lands. Existing law authorizes certain purposes for which these grants may be made for agricultural protection, including, among others, to develop public-private partnerships for the long-term protection and stewardship of agricultural lands. Existing law prohibits the department from awarding a grant in excess of $500,000 to any applicant and $750,000 if the department determines that the grant application is for collaborative planning activities proposed to include 2 or more adjacent counties, cities, or city and county. This bill would additionally authorize a nonprofit organization to apply to the department for a planning grant to assist in identifying and mapping local food producers, as defined, if the department receives an appropriation from the Legislature for those purposes. The bill would authorize planning grants to be awarded for the purpose of maintaining local food producers through the protection of agricultural lands, as specified. The bill would, among other purposes for which these grants may be made for agricultural protection, authorize the development of public-private partnerships for the long-term protection and stewardship of local food producers, as specified. The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes.