Food safety farm practices: An emerging challenge for riparian and floodplain habitats and solutions from the Salinas River Valley, California

Background/Question/Methods

Riparian communities in floodplains support disproportionate biological diversity compared to surrounding terrestrial systems and provide wildlife movement pathways. Floodplains and riparian zones are also agriculturally productive, and have been extensively converted to commercial crops. On-farm food safety practices are an emerging threat causing further degradation of these natural habitats and associated ecosystem services. In the wake of recent outbreaks of toxic foodborne pathogens in produce, new practices were developed by industry to avoid contamination by wildlife, despite low risk from this source. Growers are now required by corporate buyers to remove natural vegetation near fields and install wildlife-impermeable fencing in habitat linkages.

We measured the extent of impacts from these practices in the Salinas River Valley of California, a leading producer of leafy greens in the United States, by comparing NAIP-based fine-scale vegetation maps from 2005 and 2009. We also calculated the potential riparian and wetland habitat that would be lost in California if new food safety requirements are implemented statewide.

Results/Conclusions

Between 2005-2009, 13.3% of remaining riparian habitat in the lower Salinas River was removed or degraded. If implemented statewide, up to 40% of remaining riparian habitat in some counties would be impacted. In the globally-integrated agricultural industry, these practices could become standard, effecting natural habitat near production agriculture around the world.

Environmental quality and food safety are public goods. On-farm practices should be based on scientific evidence of risk for both goods. We propose coordinated management (“co-management”) with growers, policymakers, and industry to mitigate pathogenic risk and sustain natural and agricultural systems.