Case study on SALC Grant for the SGC 2019 Annual Report

1. FINAL
Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program: Santa Clara Valley’s Agricultural
Plan and Easement Program
For the past three decades, Santa Clara County, has experienced a drastic loss in agriculture land,
approximately twenty-one thousand acres,1
in favor of residential development. Once known as
“The Valley of Heart’s Delight”, the largest fruit production and packing in the world, Santa Clara
County has been slowly integrating into Silicon Valley.2
In 2015, the California Strategic Growth
Council (SGC) awarded a Planning Grant for $100,000 to the county through its Sustainable
Agricultural Lands Conservation Program (SALC).3
Both Santa Clara County and the Santa Clara
Valley Open Space Authority (SCVOSA) collaborated on this grant to provide a voice and address
the substantial loss of land on behalf of farmers and land workers. The result led to the development
and adoption of the Santa Clara Valley Agricultural Plan.
The Valley Agricultural Plan is the vison and framework by which the county will achieve three
key goals. The goals are as follow, keep the current working agricultural lands at work, honor the
importance of agriculture to Santa Clara Valley and craft a unified regional land use policy
framework for the future.4
Building off the Valley Agricultural Plan, in 2016, SGC awarded
another $100,000 to create a regional Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchasing Program
(ACEPP).5
The application for ACEPP projected to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions by about
50,000 million tons of CO2 during the first 10 years of implementation.6
In 2017, SGC awarded Santa Clara County three grants worth approximately 15 million dollars to
support the acquisition by the ACEPP of approximately 251 acres of prime farmland.7
In a span
of 30 years, the reduction of Vehicle Miles Travel (VMT) and Greenhouse Gases from this award
alone is approximately 835 million VMT and 309 MT CO2e respectively.8
The acquisition will
not only protect the farmland from residential development but serves as the first action by the
ACEPP to strengthen the regional food supply, protect open space and reduce greenhouse gases,
according to the Valley Agricultural Plan. Santa Clara is a successful ongoing example of SALC’s
goals to protect at-risk agricultural lands from conversion to more pollution-heavy land uses.
1
Cal Conservation. “Notes From The Field.” Notes From The Field, 22 Feb. 2019, calconservation.blog/2019/02/22/santa-clara-
county-makes-ag-conservation-a-priority/.
2
IBID
3
Strategic Growth Council. “Staff Report: Fy 2014-15 Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program: Recommended
Awards.” California Strategic Growth Council , 2015, sgc.ca.gov/programs/salc/docs/20150623-
APPROVED_FINAL_SALC_Staff_Report_for_posting.pdf. Pg.4
4
County of Santa Clara, and Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority. Santa Clara Valley Agricultural Plan: Investing In Our
Working Lands For Regional Resilience. 2018, Santa Clara Valley Agricultural Plan: Investing In Our Working Lands
For Regional Resilience, www.sccgov.org/sites/dpd/DocsForms/Documents/SCV_ActionPlan.pdf. P.5
5
Strategic Growth Council. “Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program FY2016-17 Projects Approved for Award.”
California Strategic Growth Council , 2016, sgc.ca.gov/programs/salc/docs/20171205-2016-
17_Table_Project_Approved_for_Award.pdf. Pg.2
6
Strategic Growth Council. “Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program Strategy and Outcome Grant Application
Summary.” California Strategic Growth Council , 2016, sgc.ca.gov/programs/salc/docs/20180425-2016-
17_ProjectSummaries.pdf. Pg. 53
7
Strategic Growth Council. “Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program: Agricultural Land Conservation Easement
Summary.” California Strategic Growth Council , 2018, sgc.ca.gov/programs/salc/docs/20190204-2017-
2018_Project_Summaries_Combined.pdf. Pg. 27-32
8
IBID Pg. 27-32