Coyote Valley

Located on the outskirts of San Jose, the 7,400-acre Coyote Valley makes up some of the last remaining farmland of the Santa Clara Valley, once known as “The Valley of the Heart’s Delight” for its abundant agriculture and orchards.

SAGE has been working in the area for more than a decade to revitalize agriculture, sustain conservation, and create a permanent agricultural resource area of regional significance linked to vibrant regional food systems and diverse urban communities.

Current Work in the Coyote Valley

Protecting Coyote Valley
SAGE supports the Protect Coyote Valley Campaign by leading farm tours for opinion makers and publishing farmer profiles. The Campaign is engaging and mobilizing Bay Area residents to permanently protect this remarkable landscape. A number of press outlets have already covered the early November launch of the Protect Coyote Valley Campaign.

SAGE produced a Coyote Valley Crop Overview for fall farm tours. As part of a series of interviews with Coyote Valley farmers, SAGE published the first profile of the Coyote Valley Nursery in early December.

SAGE also supported the high profile, high stakes Coyote Valley Landscape Linkages Study, produced by the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority, which will be released soon.

Discover Coyote Valley!

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SAGE will continue to build on its work towards agriculture revitalization in the Coyote Valley through the San Jose Food Works project: Assessing local food as a driver to make San Jose a healthier, more resilient place.

Past Work in the Coyote Valley

In 2013, the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program awarded SAGE a multiyear grant for our project “Revitalizing Specialty Crop Agriculture in the Valley of the Heart’s Delight: a Model for Linked Urban-Rural Sustainability”. The project, which builds on our previous work in the Coyote Valley, had five goals:

  • Increase the number of specialty crop operations
  • Increase specialty crop acreage and profitability
  • Enhance natural resource stewardship by adopting new sustainable agricultural practices and establishing habitat enhancement
  • Increase agri-tourism, allowing visitors to enjoy agriculture, recreation and nature in the Coyote Valley year-round and through special seasonal events held from spring through fall
  • Increase sales of Coyote Valley grown specialty crops to local markets, including on-farm sales

In 2011, SAGE initiated the Conserving Coyote Valley Agriculture Feasibility Study to assess the potential for creating a sustainable agriculture resource area within the Coyote Valley.

The Coyote Valley is home to a regionally significant agricultural resource area that contains important farmland and key habitat; supports livelihoods for its farmers, ranchers and agricultural employees; provides healthy food and a recreational amenity for Bay Area communities; and protects important ecological and cultural resources of the region.Vision for Coyote Valley, from stakeholder process

Published in 2012, the final report Sustaining Agriculture and Conservation in the Coyote Valley, concluded that it is feasible to sustain agriculture and conservation in the Coyote Valley and developed recommendations for strategic actions over a 25-year period.