CDFA Healthy Soils Program Applications Open

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is now accepting applications for its Healthy Soils Program (HSP). The program incentivizes implementation and demonstration of on-farm soil health practices that sequester carbon, reduce greenhouse gases, and improve soil health.

The program has two components: the HSP Incentives Program and the HSP Demonstration Projects:

HSP Incentives Program
The HSP Incentives Program will accept applications on a rolling basis until 5 p.m. PT on June 26, 2020 or until available funds are expended, whichever is earlier. California farmers and ranchers, as well as federal and California-recognized Native American Tribes are eligible to apply. For additional information on eligibility and program requirements, prospective applicants should visit: www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/healthysoils/incentivesprogram.html

There is free technical assistance for prospective incentive program applicants provided by CDFA-funded Technical Assistance Providers and Climate Smart Agriculture Community Education Specialists at the University of California Cooperative Extension. For details, please visit: https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/healthysoils/IncentivesProgram.html and https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/technical/index.html.

Sacramento Valley representatives from three organizations are providing technical assistance on applying for and implementing HSP Incentives Program grants:

• for grant application support, contact Emily Lovell for UC Cooperative Extension at ejlovell@ucanr.edu,
• for irrigated crop expertise, farm-edge conservation and Spanish speakers, contact Rex Dufour of the National Center for Appropriate Technology at rexd@ncat.org, and
• for habitat and grazing land practices, contact Corey Shake of Point Blue Conservation Science at cshake@pointblue.org.

HSP Demonstration Projects
The HSP Demonstration Projects showcase California farmers’ and ranchers’ implementation of HSP soil health practices. Demonstration projects enable awardees to help support widespread adoption of soil health management practices throughout the state. Not-for-profits, University Cooperative Extension, federal and university experiment stations, Resource Conservation Districts, federal and California-recognized Native American Indian Tribes, and farmers and ranchers in collaboration with these entities are eligible to apply.

The HSP Demonstration Projects applications are due by 5 p.m. PT on Thursday, April 23, 2020. Late submissions will not be accepted.