Sara Snider: Growing Returns

A team of researchers spent seven years dissecting, analyzing and reporting on California’s nitrogen cycle, and the results are eye-opening. Nearly 2 million tons of nitrogen are imported into the state each year. Almost a quarter of it is lost through leaching into groundwater – with runoff from cropland accounting for nearly 90 percent of […]

When I tend my garden at home near San Francisco, the words of writer and environmentalist Wendell Berry echo in my head: “We learn from our gardens to deal with the most urgent question of the time: How much is enough?” I do everything I can to conserve. I grow food that has a minimal […]

Over the past decade, private investment in conservation has more than doubled, with sustainable forestry and agriculture investments as the main drivers of growth. This unprecedented expansion in “impact investing” or “conservation finance” has occurred as investors seek good returns that can also benefit the environment.  According to Credit Suisse, sustainable agriculture is particularly appealing […]

A common misperception is that citrus season is in the summer, but peak citrus season is actually happening right now. California grew over 90 percent of U.S. lemons last season, but the severe drought in 2015 caused a 9 percent dip in domestic lemon production compared to the previous growing season. This meant higher costs for […]

It’s been a tough year for the almond. Vilified and beaten down, the nut has come to symbolize the California drought. While the reasons for and solutions to the drought are complicated and nuanced, the almond’s reputation has nonetheless suffered. Meanwhile, farmers across the board are under increasing pressure – from regulatory requirements and increasing […]

Soil health wasn’t always this sexy. The United Nations has named 2015 the International Year of the Soils, the National Corn Growers Association created the Soil Health Partnership, and the Telegraph newspaper is claiming that we can only ignore the soil crisis for so long, and that “just a handspan of topsoil lies between us […]

In the past three months, three new revenue opportunities have emerged for growers. In June, the first ever carbon offset protocol for crop-base agriculture in a cap-and-trade market was approved for U.S. rice growers by the California Air Resources Board (ARB). The “rice protocol” announcement was followed shortly after by approval of a voluntary grasslands […]

Putting yourself in the boots of a California farmer will give you a whole new perspective. That’s why I recently spent a few days alongside Matt Fisher, a citrus grower in Kern County, California – to better understand growers’ challenges and concerns, and to rethink how environmental groups and farmers can achieve shared goals. The […]

Traditionally, governments haven’t factored farms and ranches into their climate mitigation and adaptation planning. Instead, the focus has mostly been on protecting urban communities. But that is all changing. At the National Adaptation Forum earlier this month in St. Louis, agriculture was top-of-mind in discussions about reducing emissions and building resilience to climate change. That’s […]

At Environmental Defense Fund, we believe in the power of incentives to drive agricultural sustainability. That’s why we support emerging markets like California’s Central Valley Habitat Exchange and the state’s fledgling cap and trade market, which will soon allow rice growers to earn extra revenue. Both markets reward farmers for improving the environment in specific […]

By Sara Snider

Improving the soil helps ranchers and the climate. © rui vale sousa / Shutterstock Images.

Rangeland ecosystems cover approximately one third of the land area in the United States and half the land area of California. What if that vast domain could be utilized to combat climate change, and ranchers could get paid for land management practices that keep more carbon in the soil and enhance production?

That’s the direction we’re going, thanks to a new carbon accounting standard approved today by the American Carbon Registry. The new protocol allows ranchers who reduce their greenhouse gas footprint by applying compost to their fields to earn credits that can be traded on the voluntary carbon market.

Climate benefits

The standard is supported by research conducted by the Silver Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, which shows that applying a half inch of compost to rangeland soils removes greenhouse gases from the atmosphere at the rate of half a ton per acre each year.

If the practice of applying compost can be scaled to even 5 percent of California’s rangelands, we could capture approximately 28 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, which is about the same as the annual emissions from all the homes in California!

Compost can be created from any number of waste materials, including green waste (like lawn clippings) and municipal food waste. Using compost from food waste provides extra climate benefits.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, food waste is the largest single waste stream going to landfills, totaling more than 36 million tons in 2012. When food is placed in landfills it generates methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. By diverting food waste from landfills and converting it into compost for rangelands, ranchers will help prevent the creation of new GHGs.

Proven benefits to ranchers

Compost on the range. Photo credit: Lynette K Niebrugge, Marin County Resource Conservation District

A handful of California land managers have pioneered the practice of applying compost to grasslands at two locations over the past seven years.  These trials, part of the Marin Carbon Project, demonstrate that a one-time application of compost increases forage production 40-70 percent and doubles the water holding capacity of the soil—an increasingly important issue in drought-stricken California.

As an added value for ranchers, the practice may decrease the need to purchase feed because it improves forage quantity and quality.

The promising future of compost

These impressive results inspire us to expand compost research into additional geographies. While this new protocol can be implemented immediately on grasslands in Mediterranean climates, we are exploring the possibility of it bringing benefits to ranchers in different climate zones.

The potential to improve soil health and increase carbon sequestration on a variety of soil types and microclimates is exciting and could provide substantial benefits to ranchers. With the launch of this new protocol, EDF and its partners will continue to research, develop and promote ways that make it profitable for ranchers to stay on their land, enhance the health of rangelands and adapt to a climate changing world.