Restore California and Healthy Soil Carbon Fund

In 2017, the State of California established a Healthy Soils Program (HSP), funded by the state’s Cap-and-Trade proceeds and intended to incentivize healthy soil on agricultural land by providing “financial incentives to California growers and ranchers to implement conservation management practices that sequester carbon, reduce atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs), and improve soil health.” Given the potential for healthy soil to help California withstand fire, drought, and other climate-related challenges, together with the state’s pledge to reach carbon
neutrality by 2045, HSP Incentives were deemed necessary to promote implementation of
carbon-capturing NRCS conservation practices. Funding for California’s Healthy Soils Program
has risen steadily, from $7,500,000 in its first year to $28,000,000 in the most recent state budget
(FY 2019-20), reflecting the success of the program and the soil health movement’s still-unmet
resource needs. The proposed project would overcome these adverse market and policy conditions causing environmental externalization by establishing a public/private program that will engage consumers in funding the implementation of climate friendly agricultural practices on an ongoing basis. The two-year goal of this proposal is to design and launch a pilot program in California, with the medium-term goal of expanding the program to additional states, cities and sectors of the food economy, and a long-term goal of normalizing a national cultural practice of small-scale consumer investments in healthy soil through food purchases.