This week, the Carlsbad City Council and the state's Regional Water Quality Control Board will hold public hearings and vote on issuing the final local permits required to build a 50-million-gallon-per-day desalination plant in Carlsbad. As a representative of San Diego's agricultural community, I can testify firsthand to the meaningful benefits the desalination plant will have on our environment and regional economy.

Few people recognize that San Diego County is the 12th largest farm economy among all counties in the nation, and is host to more than 5,000 farmers. Our local agriculture industry ranks as the fifth largest industry in San Diego County, contributing more than $1.4 billion to the local economy. When all economic factors are considered, including payroll, purchase of goods and transportation, agriculture has a total value of $5.1 billion to the local economy.

San Diego's farmers recognize the importance of developing environmentally responsible and affordable water supplies for the region. For the farm community, water supply is not just a bottom-line business issue; it is critical to the preservation of San Diego County's open space and agricultural land. The farmers of San Diego maintain vast tracts of open space and plant trees and crops that help improve air quality and provide a healthy harvest, which assist with protecting the ambience that is San Diego County. Without a reliable supply of water, none of this is possible.

Moving forward absent a new supply of locally controlled water will harm this lucrative industry. As farm water supplies are redirected to supplement urban users, agricultural enterprises will suffer and allow farmland to become more readily available to developers and cities contemplating other land uses that will undoubtedly have traffic, noise and air pollution impacts.

The environmental and economic benefits of the desalination plant are not limited to the region's agricultural industry; North County's emerging bio- and high-technology clusters will also benefit. These industries require plentiful amounts of high-quality water for manufacturing, and offer high-paying jobs the region cannot afford to lose. As the cost of doing business and high cost of living increases it is more difficult for companies to recruit and retain quality employees. In the long run, the imported water these businesses rely on will be more expensive due to the costs of transportation, storage and likely economic and environmental mitigation costs for the damage caused by extracting that water from the overutilized Colorado River and/or Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

It is apparent the cost of importing water to this region will only continue to escalate and desalinated water will be the more affordable source of water. To maintain the county's economic prosperity, water must be abundant and affordable for the agricultural industry and all of San Diego's business clusters. By creating new water supplies through environmentally responsible desalination, San Diego's economy will flourish for years to come.

The Pacific Ocean offers an affordable supply of water for the region.

Desalination is a technology whose time has come, and we applaud the bold efforts of the city of Carlsbad and Poseidon Resources.

-- Eric Larson is executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau and a former Carlsbad city councilman.