California's Healthy Soils Initiative is a collaboration of state agencies and departments, led by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, to promote the development of healthy soils. A combination of innovative farm and land management practices contribute to building adequate soil organic matter that can increase carbon sequestration and reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions.
What Is California Doing?
Inter-Agency Collaboration
- The On-Farm Compost Work Group is committed to developing a regulatory pathway to address permitting challenges and create incentives to support on-farm composting of agricultural materials to decrease nutrient loading, reduce agricultural burning, and improve soil health.
- Healthy Soils Week is an annual collaboration between federal and state agencies to celebrate the value of California’s soils and highlight efforts to improve soil health across the state.
Funding
Funding for improving soil health is available on both the state and federal level. Click the links below to find out more.
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The Healthy Soils Program (HSP) provides financial incentives for implementation and/or demonstration of on-farm conservation management practices that improve soil health, sequester carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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The USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (USDA NRCS) provides financial as well as technical assistance for development and implementation of conservation plans through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).
"Soil has the transformative power to help us stabilize our changing climate. By capturing greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere and storing them underground, through the assistance of living plants and microbes, we improve both the atmosphere and the soil."