Santa Clara County Land Access Guide
Urban Agriculture Land Access Guide: Case Studies from Santa Clara County (2026)
Overview
This guide examines land access for urban agriculture in Santa Clara County. Drawing on the experiences of community-based organizations, it documents the lessons they’ve learned, the ongoing risks to their access to land, and the relationships that have made access to land for urban agriculture possible.
This guide was created for UC ANR as part of the Growing Urban Agriculture Partnership Project that the Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) led through a cooperative agreement with the USDA Farm Service Agency.
Goals of this report
1.
Document how land access opportunities emerged and the conditions that made them possible.
2.
Identify risks and constraints that organizations faced while securing land access.
3.
Share lessons that may useful for others engaged in urban agriculture.
Key takeaways
There is no single pathway to access land for urban agriculture
Instead stories give us a chance to learn from the experiences of others who have already navigated this process.
Organizations have used a combination of strategies to access land
Gaining access to land has involved building partnerships, engaging the community, and using supportive policies.
Even after securing land, risks remain
Each of the pathways documented here have their own risks, such as insecure tenure, dependence on individual champions, leadership transitions, and zoning and infrastructure barriers.
Collaborators
Valley Verde
Garden to Table
La Mesa Verde
Team members
Fernando Fernandez L.
Author
Teodora Mendoza
Author
Lucy Diekmann
Editor
Funding
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