USDA Delivers Historic Investment in Climate-Smart Farming Programs
Marin, Sonoma, and Gold Ridge Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs) selected as recipients of the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Award, a program that prioritizes carbon sequestration markets and soil-building farming practices.
The agriculture sector is at the forefront of engaging solutions to climate change. By adopting climate-smart farming practices, producers of our food and fiber are building soil health, supporting biodiversity, and increasing the long-term viability of farms while simultaneously reducing our carbon footprint. Integrating farming practices that regenerate soil health is necessary to build long-term climate-resilient agricultural systems.
In recent years, carbon farming has gained traction as a pathway to managing landscapes in a way that addresses the abundance of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere while simultaneously enhancing the resilience of our vulnerable farmlands. Carbon farming refers to a set of agricultural practices that accelerate the rate at which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and drawn down into plant material and/or soil organic matter. Farmers and ranchers are adopting carbon farming practices, like reduced till and no-till farming, prescribed grazing, cover crops, and silvopasture. Still, the demand for more significant support to transition to climate-smart agriculture remains high.
In September 2022, the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) made a significant investment in the carbon farming movement by announcing more than $2.8 billion for seventy total projects across the country that will expand market opportunities for climate-smart commodities. Marin, Gold Ridge, and Sonoma Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs) and their partners were among the projects selected, receiving up to $10 million to expand climate-smart agricultural programs in Sonoma and Marin counties. The “Sonoma Marin Ag and County Climate Coalition” will focus on supporting farmers transitioning to climate-friendly practices and building regional and local food partnerships across the two Bay Area counties. The project will create a system for tracking progress toward meeting county greenhouse gas reduction and carbon sequestration targets on agricultural lands and help market climate-friendly products by uplifting the role of farmers and ranchers in climate change mitigation.
The Sonoma Marin Ag and County Climate Coalition project will build on RCD’s cutting-edge sustainable agricultural programs and county climate action and resilience planning in Sonoma and Marin counties. The project leverages the Carbon Cycle Institute’s carbon farm planning framework and years of effort training and supporting local RCDs in establishing carbon farm planning programs and integrating the agricultural sector into county-level climate initiatives.
What this Funding Means for the Future of Agriculture
The growing movement to adopt farming practices that are good for the planet and good for business has reached an unprecedented level with the USDA’s investment. The increased support for practices that build soil health, rather than deplete it, better ensures our food and farming ecosystems are resilient to the conditions of the changing climate. The investment guarantees an influx of technical assistance for producers — including small and historically underserved producers — with the support needed to strengthen their resilience to climate-related disaster events while leveraging their lands’ potential to sequester and store carbon.
This investment also represents a promise to farmers and ranchers that federal priorities include the long-term health of our working lands. Our traditional conventional agricultural support system is currently not set up to regenerate soil, and instead prioritizes high yield over sustainable practices. The USDA’s investment is a market signal to producers, businesses, and institutions that adopting climate-smart agriculture will be key to the future of agriculture products. The creation of a market that incorporates climate-smart practices into the value proposition for agriculture products is a systemic shift to ensure our agricultural systems work for consumers, farmers, and the planet.
Expanding Technical Assistance to Reduce Producer Barriers
There is a growing interest among farmers and ranchers to adopt carbon farming practices. Currently, Marin, Gold Ridge, and Sonoma RCDs offer assistance to farmers and ranchers to design and implement carbon farm plans, with demands for this service far outweighing existing capacity. Technical assistance provided by the RCDs offers on-the-ground support for producers to develop regionally appropriate climate mitigation and adaptation strategies that result in lasting change, community economic development, and greater access to climate-smart agricultural products.
Over the last decade, RCDs in Marin and Sonoma counties, in partnership with NRCS, county extension services and agricultural departments, and the Carbon Cycle Institute have been building carbon farming programs directly linked to county-level climate action planning and regional supply chains for climate-smart fiber, organic dairy, pasture-raised meat, and sustainably produced wine. These local conservation partnerships have become a model across the state for advancing agricultural climate solutions grounded in community economic development and climate action.
“This funding is a testament to the strong relationships among agricultural conservation organizations, county government, and the local agricultural community and their long history of innovation,” says Nancy Scolari, Executive Director of Marin RCD. “This funding will support Marin and Sonoma farmers and ranchers and their role as land and climate stewards.”
The Resource Conservation Network gathers and shares the stories and ideas from its partners and colleagues. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the RCDs managing this publication.
