Land equity in California: Challenges and opportunities across the policy landscape

Abstract

In recent years, the State of California has enacted several policies and programs intended to improve land access for the State’s socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. This policy bridge provides a brief overview of factors shaping land ownership and access in California before describing 4 recently enacted initiatives demonstrating how the State has operationalized farmer and land equity through legislative, policy, and programmatic mechanisms. These actions are grounded in effective organizing among non-State organizations and demonstrate an emerging commitment to both procedural and distributive forms of justice. While the long-term results of these recent developments remain to be seen, they demonstrate an evolving commitment among diverse State and non-State entities to understand and address systemic inequality in agricultural land access and tenure in California.