The Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation (SALC) program was created in 2014 as a component of the California Strategic Growth Council and administered by the Department of Conservation. The program is primarily funded through the California Climate Investments, a statewide program that provides cap-and-trade funds through agricultural conservation, acquisition, and planning grants for programs intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. SALC seeks to protect at-risk agricultural lands from sprawl development to promote growth within existing jurisdictions, ensure open space remains available, and support a healthy agricultural economy.

In 2021, San Diego LAFCO - in partnership with the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego - was awarded $250,000 to identify, monitor, and assess active agricultural lands within the San Diego region to determine effective methods to strengthen agricultural production and the growing agricultural economy. 

In 2022, San Diego LAFCO - in partnership with the San Diego County Department of Planning & Development Services - was awarded $450,000 to continue its next planning phase of SALC (also referred to as SALC 2.0). SALC 2.0 seeks to quantify challenges highlighted through SALC 1.0 and in doing so gain a better understanding of the economic differences between a marginal vs. a sustainable farming operation with the goal of creating county-wide policies to help directly bridge the economic gap and assist existing and emerging small-scale farming operations in the County.