The Healthy Soils Program (HSP) Block Grant Pilot is designed to promote widespread adoption of healthy soils practices. Healthier soils provide more nutrients, retain more water, are more resilient to extreme weather, and sequester more carbon. Through a competitive selection process, CDFA awarded 14 HSP Block Grants to recipient organizations in December 2023. These organizations have been working closely with growers on developing healthy soils project proposals and proper completion of practices. They have also been innovating new ways to provide technical assistance, in the field and beyond.
Solano County Farm Bureau partnered with Solano and Contra Costa Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs) and has awarded 68 healthy soils projects to farmers. Together, the partners have been providing several technical assistance services, including language assistance, on-site soil sampling, plant ordering and distribution, and detailed practice implementation recommendations. The Healthy Soils Program requirement for soil sampling has served as a great opportunity to demonstrate to the growers how they can sample their soil and interpret results of soil health metrics. The team guides farmers through checklists of the practice and documentation requirements, as well as providing practice recommendations – for example, counseling on species for plantings and hedgerow maintenance planning. For farmers making plantings, they have combined orders and bought plants directly from wholesalers on behalf of the growers, making the prices per plant cheaper and taking the onus of quality control off of the farmers. And for Spanish- and Hmong-speaking farmers, they have been able to provide translation services, even coordinating compost purchase and delivery on behalf of the growers. Lastly, they share their knowledge and experience of other support opportunities, from federal to local agencies.
Farm Bureau staff member Katie Brazelton has found that growers tend to feel more confident in tackling their HSP projects when they see a team of people ready to help them succeed, especially when those team members are farmers too (as the Farm Bureau is farmer-led): “My husband is a 4th generation farmer, so I approach the grant with that perspective in mind. I’m here to help you be successful so don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I don’t know all the answers, but I have a team of people that will help us, and I can always double check with CDFA when necessary.” Through this process, they are cultivating relationships between farmers, the Farm Bureau, the RCDs, and the UCCE that will last beyond the HSP grant term. These are resources that growers can add to their “toolbox” for their farming operations going forward.