Seven demonstration projects are set to split $1.12 million in funding through a program designed to improve soil health throughout California.
According to a release from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, Healthy Soils Program funding recipients will include academic institutions, non-profits and conservation districts among the seven projects. The program, CDFA said “aims to improve soil health, sequester carbon, and reduce atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs) by funding on-farm demonstration projects that collect data and/or showcase conservation management practices that mitigate GHG emissions and increase soil health.”
Three efforts are set to receive the bulk of the funding: a biochar project aimed at an almond orchard from the American Farmland Trust in partnership with some local entities, a UC-Davis plan to measure climate-smart healthy soils strategies, and a Center for Land-Based Learning initiative to drive awareness on the carbon sequestration and GHG reduction potential of biochar.
The program was appropriated $50 million from the state budget and another $25 million from California Climate Investments. That funding came after a $100 million state budget request. According to CDFA, the rest of the money appropriated to the Healthy Soils Program will be targeted to projects in the HSP Incentives Program.
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