Carbon farming improves soil health and productivity, conserves water, and can sequester carbon and reduce GHG emissions. Carbon farming includes different practices that are known for capturing carbon from the atmosphere as well as providing added benefits to working lands. According to the Carbon Cycle Institute, “carbon farming is a whole farm approach to optimizing carbon capture on working landscapes by implementing practices that are known to improve the rate at which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and stored in plant material and/or soil organic matter”. Carbon farming practices include the use of compost, no till planting, riparian restoration, alley cropping, and hedgerows, among others. These practices focus on managing soil health to sequester carbon which reduces the effects of climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Why Carbon Farming is Important for the CAP Update 

The CAP Update will outline ways that County facilities and the unincorporated area can reduce GHG emissions, and this Program has the potential to reduce and sequester GHG emissions through the implementation of carbon farming practices. As a part of the CAP Update, the Pilot Program will determine how to quantify the GHG emissions reduction or sequestration due to implementing carbon farming practices, ways to incentivize these practices, and identify pilot sites to evaluate these practices. With the potential to sequester and reduce GHGs, these carbon farming practices can support the County’s target of reaching net zero emissions by 2035-2045.

Visit the Program website to stay up to date with all the updates!