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From the California Department of Food and Agriculture, September
14, 2016. Reposting from CDFA's Blog:

State Releases Vision for Healthy Soils Initiative 
Posted on September 14, 2016 by Office of Public Affairs 

http://plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov/wordpress/?p=11552

Note – Governor Brown today signed  AB 1613, which directs $900
million in cap-and-trade investments, including $7.5 million for
CDFA’s State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP) and
$7.5 million for CDFA’s Healthy Soils Incentive Program, which is
one of many actions identified in the Healthy Soils Initiative. 

California’s Climate Future and Soils:
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
on California’s farm and ranch lands. Innovative farm and ranch
management practices contribute to building adequate soil organic
matter that can increase carbon sequestration and reduce overall
greenhouse gas emissions.
The Healthy Soils Initiative is a key part of California’s
strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by increasing carbon
sequestration in and on natural and working lands. Governor
Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s Executive Order B-30-15 (April 2015),
codified by SB 32 in September 2016, established a new interim
statewide greenhouse gas emission reduction target at 40 percent
below 1990 levels by 2030. The Executive Order points to carbon
sequestration in California’s forests and farmlands as one way to
help meet that goal. The Brown administration also recognized the
importance of soil health in the Governor’s 2015-16 proposed
budget by highlighting that “as the leading agricultural state in
the nation, it is important for California’s soils to be
sustainable and resilient to climate change.”

In building soil health, California can also make use of wasted
resources bound for the landfill. Currently, some 12 million tons
of compostable or mulchable organic waste is sent to California
landfills annually, where it generates methane and other public
health threats that must be managed or mitigated. The Healthy
Soils Initiative presents an opportunity to return those organic
materials back to the soil, where they can serve as a resource
for California’s critical agricultural economy.
Health of agricultural soil relates to its ability to build and
retain adequate soil organic matter via the activity of plants
and soil organisms. Adequate soil organic matter ensures the
soil’s continued capacity to function as a vital living ecosystem
with multiple benefits that sustains and produces food for
plants, animals, and humans. These benefits include:
	- Improve plant health and yields – soil organic matter
contains important nutrients that support plant growth,
biodiversity and yields.
	- Increase water infiltration and retention – healthy
soil reduces runoff and has the ability to hold up to 20 times
its weight in water; it assists flood management.
	- Sequester and reduce greenhouse gases – carbon stored
in soil has the potential to reduce overall greenhouse gas
emissions from agriculture.
	- Reduce sediment erosion and dust – healthy soil
resists erosion and improves dust control.
	- Improve water and air quality – practices to improve
soil health can reduce emissions of criteria pollutants and
affect the persistence and biodegradability of pesticides in soil
and water.
	- Improve biological diversity and wildlife habitat – at
least a quarter of the world’s biodiversity lives in the soil;
activities to improve soil health on farms and ranches can also
promote plant and animal biodiversity and provide wildlife
habitat benefits.

Actions for the Healthy Soils Initiative:
State agencies, departments and boards met and agreed to a set of
five primary actions for the Healthy Soils Initiative:
1. Protect and restore soil organic matter in California’s
soils.
2. Identify sustainable and integrated financing opportunities to
facilitate healthy soils.
3. Provide for research, education and technical support to
facilitate healthy soils.
4. Increase governmental efficiencies to enhance soil health on
public and private lands.
5. Promote interagency coordination and collaboration to support
soils and related state goals.
California’s farmers and ranchers play a critical role in by
managing soils in a way that sequesters carbon and reduces
greenhouse gases.

By setting clear goals, incentivizing voluntary on-farm
management practices, funding necessary research and
demonstration projects and working to promote interagency
collaboration and increase governmental efficiencies, the Healthy
Soils Initiative can play an important role in meeting
California’s 2030 greenhouse gas emission reduction target.
Link to complete Health Soils Initiative vision statement


Jenny Lester Moffitt
Deputy Secretary
California Department of Food and Agriculture
1220 N Street, Ste 400
Sacramento, CA  95814
(916) 654-0433
Jenny.LesterMoffitt@cdfa.ca.gov


California is in a drought emergency.
Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.