Q: Why is the County Department of Agriculture involved in emergency preparedness planning concerning Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant?  
A: Our Department has a role in the protection of the public’s health and safety during any type of disaster, not just incidents at Diablo Canyon Power Plant. An emergency at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant could potentially affect local agriculture. We work closely with the local Office of Emergency Services to have emergency response plans in place to protect and inform the public and agriculturalists about ways to protect themselves, the community and the great reputation the ag industry has locally, state, nation and worldwide. Our knowledge of local ag production, marketing, harvest dates, sales and storage locations and extensive maps of production areas and facilities assist decision makers in the evaluation of the best measures to take to protect the public’s health and safety.
 
 
Q: Where can I get information about how to protect my family, livestock and farm from disasters such as an incident at Diablo Canyon Power Plant?  
A: The best sources of information about disaster response and planning for protection in the event of many disasters are the “Nuclear Emergency Information” and “First Aid and Survival Guide” sections located in the front of the San Luis Obispo County SBC Phone Book. Everyone should tune their radios to 920 AM, 1400 AM and 98.1 FM to listen to the public service messages from the local Early Alert System for specific directions on what to do in the event on an emergency. Agriculturalists can contact our Department at 805-781-5910 to obtain a copy of a pamphlet produced by our office, SLO County Office of Emergency Services, California Department of Health Services, California Department of Food and Agriculture, and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. This pamphlet provides specific safety information for local agriculturalists.
 
 
Q: How do you insure the information growers provide for your Annual Crop Report remain strictly confidential?  
A: We take the responsibility of safekeeping information from individual growers very seriously, and have successfully done-so for the past 35 years. Growers are identified on survey forms by a numerical designation. This is only used to help us track who has (or has not) returned their surveys. Once a survey is returned to our Department, the production information is combined with all other growers of the same commodity in our secured database. This database does not contain the grower’s identification number. If we have less than three growers of a certain commodity, their production information get lumped together with other commodities and is reported in the “miscellaneous” portion of our Annual Crop Reports. This helps keep production information anonymous.
 
 
Q: When are the Annual Crop Report Statistics available?  
A: Statistics for the previous year are posted on our website around April 1 of each year. Hard copies of the Annual Crop Report for the previous year are available around June 1. To request a hard copy of the Annual Crop Report contact our Department at 805-781-5910 or e–mail a request to us at:
 
 
Q: Where can I get historical and current statistics on the economic value and acreage of local agricultural commodities?  
A: Go to Statistics section of our website for copies of our Annual Crop Report for the past 35 years.
 
 
Q: Where can I find information about building permits, what’s allowed on ag zoned property and how to get a permit?  
A: Go to the County Clerk Recorder’s office website for the text of various codes. 
 
Q. Where can I get information about SLO County Right to Farm Ordinance? 
A. Go to the Land Use Planning section of our website information and the text of the Ordinance.