Dear Colleagues,
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is soliciting proposals for new soil conservation management practices to be considered for future inclusion in their Healthy Soils Program.
The goal of the Healthy Soils Program (HSP) is to promote the development of healthy soils on California's farmlands and ranchlands. HSP funds on-farm management practices that include but are not limited to cover cropping, no-till, reduced-till, mulching, compost application, and conservation plantings, via 3 grant programs:
- The HSP Incentive Grants: provides financial incentives directly to growers and ranchers to implement HSP practices
- The HSP Demonstration Grants: funds on-farm demonstration projects that collect data, promote and showcase conservation management practices, and assess the potential of innovative practices in California
- The HSP Block Grant Pilot: funds on-farm implementation projects by growers and ranchers through regional block grant administrators, while building their technical assistance capacity
CDFA currently covers 27 eligible conservation management practices under the 3 grant programs of HSP (For a complete list of management practices covered by HSP, please see this link: https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/healthysoils/docs/CDFAHealthySoilsPractices.pdf). Through this request for proposals, CDFA is soliciting proposals to include new conservation management practices in its 3 HSP grant programs. The proposals must demonstrate that the proposed new practice, if implemented, will 1) Improve soil health and 2) Provide GHG benefits, by referencing peer reviewed/ public research literature.
Proposals will be reviewed and recommended by a technical sub-committee, and will be submitted to Secretary of Food and Agriculture along with public comments and recommendations made by Environmental Farming Act – Science Advisory Panel (EFA-SAP). The secretary will subsequently finalize the decision on which new practices will be included as eligible conservation management practices in future HSP grant program funding solicitations.
Interested applicants should submit a proposal using the provided template via E-mail to cdfa.HSP_tech@cdfa.ca.gov by the due date outlined below.
Proposals Due: August 2, 2024 5PM PT
Proposal Template: https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/healthysoils/docs/2024HSPNewPracticesProposalTemplate.docx
Visit the program web page at https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/healthysoils/for more information.
Thank you.
Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)