In that period, nearly 20,000 acres were paved over, some 76 percent of it prime ag land, according to the latest report of the American Farmland Trust.

Statewide, 540,000 acres were taken out of production. That's about the total amount of cropland acreage in San Joaquin County, which isn't just one of California's most productive agricultural counties. It's one of the most productive in the entire nation.

That's roughly the area that would be occupied by about 15 cities the size of Stockton.

American Farmland Trust participants long have lamented the loss of farmland.

The group's members warn that taking land out of production seriously undermines the future of California agriculture.

"We're developing the best land disproportionately," said Edward Thompson Jr., the trust's director. "That does not bode well for the state's agricultural future."

It's a warning that should be taken seriously. The state's 88,000 farms, ranches, orchards and vineyards produce food and fiber valued at $32 billion.

That production generates another $100 billion in related economic activity, according to estimates by state Department of Food and Agriculture analysts.

In San Joaquin County, agricultural production was worth $1.7 billion in 2005, according to the most recent data.

The agricultural industry supports thousands of San Joaquin County jobs, not to mention thousands more that exist because the industry itself exists.

Money from agriculture is seeded throughout the county's economy like all those perfectly planted acres of fields, vines and orchards.

That must be protected. How?

Unfortunately, it's been the practice of Farm Trust officials to sound the alarm repeatedly without offering much in the way of solutions, except complaining about "ranchettes" - home sites of 20 acres that essentially take land out of production so hobby farmers can own an estate - or urging more development within city boundaries.

Agricultural and development interests often are pitted against each other, except when agricultural interests want to protect their right to sell land for development.

The state's Williamson Act was designed to protect agriculture from urban encroachment by making sure farmland is taxed as farmland and not at its "highest and best use" if a home were to be built next door.

When homes are built next to, say, an orchard - which severely restricts farming because of dust, noise and pesticide use - agriculturalists say they want the right to sell out, to decide for themselves what to do.

There are no easy solutions.

California's population still is growing. By 2020, state Department of Finance officials estimate San Joaquin County's will have 965,000 residents. By 2050, that number will escalate to 1.7 million.

Banning "ranchettes" and urging development within existing communities won't do it.

The time to start making the hard decisions is now - not when there are 1 million or 2 million San Joaquin County residents clamoring for places to live.

Not when we've covered up another 15 Stockton-sized acres of land lost to food and fiber production forever.