Sonoma-Marin ag project tentatively awarded carbon farming grant

The Sonoma Marin Ag and County Climate Coalition project has tentatively been awarded a national grant to promote successful carbon farming as well as forge regional and local food partnerships to boost climate-smart agricultural products.

This grant was tentatively awarded through the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The amount of the grant is still being negotiated by the USDA and project partners, but the estimated funding ceiling for the project is $10 million. If a full $10 million grant is awarded, the project could support up to 100 farms and ranches, and reduce hundreds of thousands of metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the 20 years of the project benefits.

The County of Sonoma would act as the lead entity for the project, which would also include Marin County. One of the objectives would be to create a regional supply chain, tracking system and marketing campaign for agricultural commodities produced using farming, ranching or forestry practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture. This would be designed to help achieve the ambitious climate mitigation goals established in formal county climate action planning documents.

Sonoma Ag and County Climate Coalition project provides a regional approach to creating climate-resilient agricultural landscapes through local partnerships and the engagement with the agricultural community. This pilot project would build upon long-standing partnerships among county governments, resource conservation districts, university extension services, climate- and agriculture-centered community-based organizations, and the USDA to support, monitor and verify the implementation of impactful climate-smart practices.

The project also would build upon the partners’ online database system to track project implementation, impacts and costs.

Over the course of five years, project partners would provide carbon farming to support many farms and ranches, which would lead to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Anchored in historic local conservation partnerships, the adaptive comanagement approach of the project is designed to serve as a regional model for coordinated climate-smart agriculture implementation and to be adaptable to any region in the state or country.

Through the USDA, the Biden-Harris Administration is investigating up to $2.8 million in 70 selected projects under the first pool of the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities funding opportunity.

Reach the reporter, Dan Johnson, at daniel.johnson@sonomanews.com.