{"id":11552,"date":"2016-09-14T14:13:54","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T21:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/?p=11552"},"modified":"2016-10-19T15:56:58","modified_gmt":"2016-10-19T22:56:58","slug":"state-releases-vision-for-healthy-soils-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2016\/09\/14\/state-releases-vision-for-healthy-soils-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"State Releases Vision for Healthy Soils Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Plants-Desktop-HD-Wallpapers\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Note<\/strong> – Governor Brown today signed \u00a0AB 1613,<\/a> which directs $900 million in cap-and-trade investments, including $7.5 million for CDFA’s State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program <\/a>(SWEEP) and $7.5 million for CDFA’s Healthy Soils Incentive Program, which is one of many actions identified in the\u00a0Healthy Soils Initiative<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

California\u2019s Climate Future and Soils<\/strong><\/p>\n

California\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

The Healthy Soils Initiative is a key part of California\u2019s strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by increasing carbon sequestration in and on natural and working lands. Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.\u2019s 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\u2019s forests and farmlands as one way to help meet that goal. The Brown administration also recognized the importance of soil health in the Governor\u2019s 2015-16 proposed budget by highlighting that \u201cas the leading agricultural state in the nation, it is important for California\u2019s soils to be sustainable and resilient to climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s critical agricultural economy.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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:<\/p>\n