By Sally Neas

For many climate change activists, the latest rallying cry has been, “Keep it in the ground,” a call to slow and stop drilling for fossil fuels. But for a new generation of land stewards, the cry is becoming, “Put it back in the ground!”

As an avid gardener and former organic farmer, I know the promise that soil holds: Every ounce supports a plethora of life. Now, evidence suggests that soil may also be a key to slowing and reversing climate change.

“I think the future is really bright,” said Loren Poncia, an energetic Northern Californian cattle rancher. Poncia’s optimism stems from the hope he sees in carbon farming, which he has implemented on his ranch. Carbon farming uses land management techniques that increase the rate at which carbon is absorbed from the atmosphere and stored in soils. Scientists, policy makers, and land stewards alike are hopeful about its potential to mitigate climate change.

Carbon is the key ingredient to all life. It is absorbed by plants from the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and, with the energy of sunlight, converted into simple sugars that build more plant matter. Some of this carbon is consumed by animals and cycled through the food chain, but much of it is held in soil as roots or decaying plant matter. Historically, soil has been a carbon sink, a place of long-term carbon storage.

But many modern land management techniques, including deforestation and frequent tilling, expose soil-bound carbon to oxygen, limiting the soil’s absorption and storage potential. In fact, carbon released from soil is estimated to contribute one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Ranchers and farmers have the power to address that issue. Pastures make up 3.3 billion hectares, or 67 percent, of the world’s farmland. Carbon farming techniques can sequester up to 50 tons of carbon per hectare over a pasture’s lifetime. This motivates some ranchers and farmers to do things a little differently.

“It’s what we think about all day, every day,” said Sallie Calhoun of Paicines Ranch on California’s central coast. “Sequestering soil carbon is essentially creating more life in the soil, since it’s all fed by photosynthesis. It essentially means more plants into every inch of soil.”

Calhoun’s ranch sits in fertile, rolling California pastureland about an hour’s drive east of Monterey Bay. She intensively manages her cattle’s grazing, moving them every few days across 7,000 acres. This avoids compaction, which decreases soil productivity, and also allows perennial grasses to grow back between grazing. Perennial grasses, like sorghum and bluestems, have long root systems that sequester far more carbon than their annual cousins.

By starting with a layer of compost, Calhoun has also turned her new vineyard into an effective carbon sink. Compost is potent for carbon sequestration because of how it enhances otherwise unhealthy soil, enriching it with nutrients and microbes that increase its capacity to harbor plant growth. Compost also increases water-holding capacity, which helps plants thrive even in times of drought. She plans to till the land only once, when she plants the grapes, to avoid releasing stored carbon back into the atmosphere.

Managed grazing and compost application are just a few common practices of the 35 that the Natural Resources Conservation Service recommends for carbon sequestration. All 35 methods have been proven to sequester carbon, though some are better documented than others.

David Lewis, director of the University of California Cooperative Extension, says the techniques Calhoun uses, as well as stream restoration, are some of the most common. Lewis has worked with theMarin Carbon Project, a collaboration of researchers, ranchers, and policy makers, to study and implement carbon farming in Marin County, California. The research has been promising: They found that one application of compost doubled the production of grass and increased carbon sequestration by up to 70 percent. Similarly, stream and river ecosystems, which harbor lots of dense, woody vegetation, can sequester up to one ton of carbon, or as much as a car emits in a year, in just a few feet along their beds.

On his ranch, Poncia has replanted five miles of streams with native shrubs and trees, and has applied compost to all of his 800 acres of pasture. The compost-fortified grasses are more productive and have allowed him to double the number of cattle his land supports. This has had financial benefits. Ten years ago, Poncia was selling veterinary pharmaceuticals to subsidize his ranch. But, with the increase in cattle, he has been able to take up ranching full time. Plus, his ranch sequesters the same amount of carbon each year as is emitted by 81 cars.

Much of the research on carbon farming focuses on rangelands, which are open grasslands, because they make up such a large portion of ecosystems across the planet. They are also, after all, where we grow a vast majority of our food.

“Many of the skeptics of carbon farming think we should be planting forests instead,” Poncia said. “I think forests are a no-brainer, but there are millions of acres of rangelands across the globe and they are not sequestering as much carbon as they could be.”

The potential of carbon farming lies in wide-scale implementation. TheCarbon Cycle Institute, which grew out of the Marin Carbon Project with the ambition of applying the research and lessons to other communities in California and nationally, is taking up that task.

“It really all comes back to this,” said Torri Estrada, pointing to a messy white board with the words SOIL CARBON scrawled in big letters. Estrada is managing director of the Carbon Cycle Institute, where he is working to attract more ranchers and farmers to carbon farming. The white board maps the intricate web of organizations and strategies the institute works with. They provide technical assistance and resources to support land stewards in making the transition.

For interested stewards, implementation, and the costs associated with it, are different. It could be as simple as a one-time compost application or as intensive as a lifetime of managing different techniques. But for all, the process starts by first assessing a land’s sequestration potential and deciding which techniques fit a steward’s budget and goals. COMET-Farm, an online tool produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, can help estimate a ranch’s carbon input and output.

The institute also works with state and national policy makers to provide economic incentives for these practices. “If the U.S. government would buy carbon credits from farmers, we would produce them,” Poncia said. These credits are one way the government could pay farmers to mitigate climate change. “Farmers overproduce everything. So, if they can fund that, we will produce them,” he said. While he is already sequestering carbon, Poncia says that he could do more, given the funding.

Estrada sees the bigger potential of carbon farming to help spur a more fundamental conversation about how we relate to the land. “We’re sitting down with ranchers and having a conversation, and carbon is just the medium for that,” he said. Through this work, Estrada has watched ranchers take a more holistic approach to their management.

On his ranch, Poncia has shifted from thinking about himself as a grass farmer growing feed for his cattle to a soil farmer with the goal of increasing the amount of life in every inch of soil.

Sally Neas is a freelance writer and community educator based in Santa Cruz, California. She has a background in permaculture, sustainable agriculture, and community development, and she covers social and environmental issues. She blogs at www.voicesfromthegreatturning.com.

Link to article

Keeping an eye on our food supply is at the core of what we do at the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Nutrition, food safety, quality – that’s important work. But there’s a lot more to it than that, and seeing that this is Public Service Recognition Week (May 1 – May 7), I’d like to dig deeper and tell you a little bit more about who makes it all work.

It starts with the experts who work for CDFA, beginning with our veterinarians, biologists, entomologists and other “ologists” in the Animal Health and Plant Health offices. Some of them check the health of cattle and chickens, or the safety of eggs and milk. More than a few of our vets wear cowboy boots on a daily basis (and get them dirty) because their job isn’t in an office – it’s in the field, on the farm, in the barn, at the bottling plant, the auction yard, the butcher shop, the farmers’ market. Others working in our labs peer through a microscope at weeds and seeds and feeds, not to mention a long list of bugs and much smaller crawlers. We either want them (pollinators) or we don’t (E. coli), and knowing we have highly-educated eyes doing the looking is essential.

There are other kinds of scientists here as well, though they may not fit our assumptions about what an agricultural department does. Specialists and technicians in our Division of Measurement Standards, for example, are renowned for their expertise in the field of motor vehicle fuels, from the petroleum-based variety to hydrogen, electricity, bio-fuels, and whatever is next in the pipeline. When you go to the gas station, the confidence you have in the quality of that fuel is a direct result of this work.  This division also makes sure next-generation companies like Uber and Lyft are operating with apps and systems that are fair for consumers. There is also oversight of the scanners at the supermarket, the scales in the produce aisle, and that empty space at the top of the cereal box? (That’s called “slack fill.” And yes, I am surrounded – and fascinated – by these technical terms.)

We have a wealth of experience working for us in our Inspection Services and Marketing Services divisions, including inspectors who check fruits, vegetables and nuts for everything from ripeness to size, weight, and the accuracy of labeling. We go to farmers’ markets to make sure vendors are growing what they sell, and we have economic experts who regulate milk pricing at the farm level.

Did you know we also help dairy farmers fund, design and install digesters that turn methane emissions from their cows into energy that they can use and even sell back to the power grid? And we are responding to this historic drought by helping farmers install highly efficient irrigation systems, soil moisture monitors and related solar-powered systems that ratchet up our water use efficiency and even improve the health of our soils. That’s science at work for all of us, and those scientists are right here at CDFA.

Food will always be at the heart of our mission. And people – scientists, specialists, technicians, trappers and everyone else who works for you here at CDFA – will always be the heart of this organization, along with absolutely crucial supporting contributions from administrators, administrative assistants, information technology technicians, human resource specialists, budget analysts, and our legal and public affairs shops. Like all of us, their lives extend beyond their jobs – but being public servants is part of who they are, and that distinction is worthy of our appreciation.

Thanks to all CDFA employees on the occasion of Public Service Recognition Week as well as their tireless efforts throughout the year. Every healthy meal – and a whole lot of other important things that happen just the way they should – is proof of their value to us all.

If you would like to learn more about the wide range of CDFA’s activities, here’s a video that covers much of it.

By Jay Lund

California faces major changes in its water supply. The sooner everyone realizes these changes are coming, the better the state will be able to cope with what lies ahead.

Today’s changes are driven by efforts to end groundwater depletion, by sea level rise and loss of snowpack, salts and nitrate accumulating in groundwater, new invasive species, population growth and California’s globalized economy and agriculture.

Here are six inevitable changes that California will need to deal with to sustain the state’s ecosystems and water supplies:

1. The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta will export less water and some islands will flood. The Delta will remain California’s most difficult water problem. Some deeply subsided Delta islands and levees are financially unsustainable and will flood without large state subsidies. With land subsidence, sea level rise, increasing seepage and chance of earthquakes, their agricultural value is limited and repair costs are high. Environmental requirements already reduce Delta water diversions. New flow requirements and climate changes are likely to further reduce water diversions upstream and within the Delta. Ending groundwater overdraft will increase demands for Delta water.

2. The San Joaquin Valley will have less irrigated land. The southern Central Valley is a huge productive agricultural region that relies on water from Delta imports, groundwater overdraft and San Joaquin River diversions. Reductions in these sources will decrease availability by 1.5 million to 4 million acre-feet per year, requiring the fallowing of 500,000 to 1 million acres of its 5 million irrigated acres. Some of this land will be retired due to salinization and urbanization. Continued shifts to higher-value crops, especially orchards, will help maintain agricultural revenues and jobs, as they have during the drought.

3. Urban areas will use less water, reuse more wastewater and capture more stormwater. Water supply risks and costs will drive cities to use less and capture more water. These changes will improve supply reliability and free some water for agriculture and environmental uses, at some cost. But not all actions are equally effective. Water conservation, reuse and stormwater capture are all effective in coastal areas, which drain to the sea. Reducing landscape irrigation is more effective for inland conservation.

4. Some wild native species will become unsustainable. A warmer climate, combined with continued stress on water and land, and the dilution of wild genetic stock by hatchery fish, will make some native fish species unsustainable in the wild, despite concerted restoration efforts. Native plants and animals throughout California face similar risks. Not all can be expected to survive. This challenges our endangered-species laws and demands more attention to effective ecosystem management.

5. Water solutions and funding will become more local and regional. As federal and state governments face diminished funding and capability, local and regional agencies will become more central to solving water problems. Making state and federal regulations more effective and supportive of local and statewide interests in public health, the economy and environmental protection is a major challenge.

6. Water will be managed more tightly. California’s 2014 groundwater legislation will require many areas to account for and manage groundwater, and all water, more closely. Less cumbersome court procedures, groundwater rights and water-accounting practices are needed. Tighter accounting will make water rights more valuable and make groundwater more sustainable, but will add some costs.

Change is never easy, and responding to these changes will be hard but will ultimately improve the sustainability of California’s ecosystems and water supplies. Most solutions will be funded and implemented by local and regional governments. State agencies must support them with transparent, workable water-accounting and legal authorities, and represent statewide environmental and health interests. Thoughtfully preparing for the inevitable changes in water policy will be messy, but it is needed to support California’s environment and economy.

The California Association of Food Banks’ Farm to Family program received a record 150 million pounds of donated produce in 2015 from farmers, ranchers, packers and shippers dedicated to helping their communities.

One in six adults and one in four children in California suffer from food insecurity. More than 150 farmers are committed to positively changing this situation by increasing the amount of fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy and other farm products distributed by food banks.

Farm to Family takes excess or secondary products from fields and cold storage to a network of 43 member food banks throughout the state.

This video shows how the system works.

The USDA has unveiled the Urban Agriculture Toolkit to increase access to healthy food through urban agriculture. From neighborhood gardens grown on repurposed lots, to innovative mobile markets and intensive hydroponic and aquaculture operations, urban food production is rapidly growing into a mature business sector in cities across the country.

The toolkit is intended primarily for entrepreneurs and community leaders looking to create local benefit from urban agriculture. It will help urban and small farms navigate more than 70 helpful resources, including technical assistance and financing opportunities. It focuses on some of the most pressing challenges confronting urban producers, such as land access, soil quality, water resources, capital and financing, infrastructure, market development, production strategies, and applying for federal, state or private foundation grants.

Industry estimates show U.S. local food sales totaled at least $12 billion in 2014, up from $5 billion in 2008, and experts anticipate that value to hit $20 billion by 2019. The numbers also show that these opportunities are helping to drive job growth in agriculture, increase entrepreneurship and expand food access and choice.

Link to USDA news release

By Ed Joyce

There was no change in drought conditions last week in California and Nevada, but spring storms added snow to the northern Sierra Nevada.

The U.S. Drought Monitor released April 28 shows that slightly more than 4 percent of California, in the northwest part of the state, is not in drought. But, unlike the previous update, which showed extreme and exceptional drought had eased in the state, there were no changes in this week’s report (which has a cutoff day of Tuesday).

“In northern California, 1-3 inches of precipitation fell along the northern Sierra, which translates to well above normal, but normals are lower this time of year and the amounts are small compared to the multi-year deficits, so no change was made to the depiction in California and Nevada,” according to the Drought Monitor.

The Drought Monitor intensity levels are Abnormally Dry, Moderate, Severe, Extreme and Exceptional drought.

The report shows extreme drought covers 49 percent of California and exceptional drought now covers 21 percent of the state. Moderate drought covers 90 percent of the state, with 74 percent in severe drought.

Recent storms have helped increase the statewide Sierra Nevada snowpack, however slightly. Last week the snowpack was 60 percent of normal. But that increased to 63 percent of normal this week. A week ago, the statewide snowpack was 58 percent of normal.

Last week, exceptional drought was removed from Nevada, the first time since July 2013 the state does not have that level of drought.

In the Pacific Northwest, just 3 percent of Washington is abnormally dry and nearly half of Oregon is free of drought.

“Coastal Washington and Oregon received 1-3 inches of precipitation this week, but these areas were outside the drought and abnormally dry region,” the update noted. “Precipitation amounts were much lighter east of the Cascades, generally less than half an inch.”

The U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook (released April 21 by the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center) shows that drought persists through much of California and western Nevada through July 31, 2016.

Link to Capital Public Radio web site

With the announcement this week of $16 million in grants from the State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP), CDFA offers an encore presentation of the Growing California video, “Strawberry Fields…Forever,” a look at a grower utilizing SWEEP as well assistance from CDFA’s Fertilizer Research Education Program (FREP).