Ideological battle lines shifted Monday as some of the most strident of environmentalists and agriculturists in the county united, forming the Santa Barbara County Ag Futures Alliance (SBCAFA).

Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau Executive Director Teri Bontrager shared the podium with Eric Cardenas, director of the Environmental Defense Center (EDC), as they and the other founding members of the alliance described their group's purpose and goals, such as the long-term viability and sustainability of county agriculture.

“By putting our differences aside and focusing on the things that we agree on, we move closer to realizing this vision,” Cardenas said at the press conference held at Rancho San Julian, near Lompoc.

The conflicts between agriculturists and environmentalists have been common and contentious in the county, with battles over such issues as the California Tiger Salamander, oak tree preservation, air pollution

controls, and pesticide usage.

“One of the main challenges we've had is that farmers and environmentalists have spent a lot of time talking about each other, and not much time talking to each other,” Bontrager said during the presentation.

Bontrager said farmers and ranchers could be called the original environmentalists, for their dependence on rich soil, and clean and plentiful water.

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Cardenas said that environmentalists too, had an appreciation and vested interest in preserving agricultural land.

Rancho San Juilan host, and SBCAFA founding member Jim Poett, agreed.

“The two parties are not diametrically opposed,” he said after the presentation.

With a focus on finding common ground, and respectful discussion of the issues, the SBCAFA will serve as a “sounding board” for a wide variety of county groups to find solutions to agricultural, environmental and associated social issues, according to the board members.

Among the founding members of the SBCAFA were UCSB Environmental Studies professor David Cleveland and Carlos Casteneda, a farm-labor advocate and San Luis Obispo County Farm Bureau board member.

Casteneda said he was pleased that SBCAFA had chosen farmworker housing as one of the group's first issues to work on. Casteneda said the group was just beginning to discuss the issue, but he hoped the SBCAFA could help save county time and money by doing much of the leg-work required to find a consensus view from many county groups about how to improve farmworker housing.

“We want to really sweep them off their feet,” Casteneda said.

Other founding members represent groups such as the League of Women Voters, Rincon Corporation, organic farmers, and the sustainable food systems committee for the state university system.

The other topic the new group has chosen to explore is the broader topic of countywide land use.

Today, SBCAFA group member and Central Coast Wine Growers Association representative Kevin Merrill is scheduled to help introduce the new group to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.

While new to Santa Barbara, the AFA is modeled after a series of existing alliance groups, including one in Ventura county, which was the first AFA, founded in 1999.

The EDC has also showed a willingness in the past to cooperate with former foes. The group was among those who helped broker a deal with Plains Exploration and Production Co. (PXP) to drill in the Tranquillon Ridge Oil and Gas Field Lease in exchange for a sunset on all of PXP's offshore oil drilling by 2022, along with the donation of 3,700 acres for public use.

Glenn Wallace can be reached at 737-1059 or gwallace@santamariatimes.com

September 23, 2008