CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FOOD & AGRICULTURE: CDFA is accepting public comment to add the Complete Garden Recycling to its Healthy Soil Program

California Department of Food & Agriculture issued the following announcement on Oct. 25.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) seeks public input to include the Complete Recycling of Orchards in its Healthy Soil Incentive Program. This management practice will be added to the 26 management practices currently allowed through the Healthy Soil Incentives Program. Such a practice of capturing carbon reduces greenhouse gases that result in climate warming.

Complete Recycling of Orchards is a practice of turning orchards into splinters and incorporating splinters back into the ground. Instead of burning, this practice creates soil organic carbon and microbial biomass, which improves soil health, nutrient levels, structure and water retention. The scientific process developed to quantify carbon sequestration and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in agroecosystems has been confirmed through the Complete Recycling of Orchards, in association with the California Air Resources Council, for more of nine years in a test that was carried out in Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension, of the Cooperative Extension of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the University of California.

"We are excited to propose a new science-based management practice that will be added to the current list of carbon sequestration practices under the Healthy Soil Incentives Program," said Karen Ross, CDFA Secretary. "This will allow producers to return to the ground a valuable carbon stock of their fields and increase adaptation and resistance to climate change."

The summary of the report and the results were presented at the public meeting of the CDFA Science Advisory Council, which was held on October 17, 2017 in San Luis Obispo.

"This practice is timely with the increase in the area of California dedicated to orchard crops and will certainly give farmers another practice to try as part of the Healthy Soil Incentives Program," said Jocelyn Bridson, President of Environmental Farming Act Science Advisory Panel

The report for public comments can be found here: https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/efasap/meetings_presentations.html

The public comment period will be available for three weeks from Friday, October 25 until November 15.

The research was supported by California Climate Investments, a state program that puts billions of dollars in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy and improving public health and the environment, particularly in disadvantaged communities.

Comments should be sent to the CDFA. OEFI@cdfa.ca.gov no later than November 15, 2019, at 5 p.m. PST. For questions, contact CDFA Public Affairs at 916-654-0433.

Original source can be found here.