Q&A: Sustainable Farming Expert Weighs in on California’s Historic Investments in ‘Climate Smart’ Agriculture

Late final month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a sweeping bundle of payments to sort out the local weather disaster, in what he referred to as an “unprecedented investment in climate resiliency by any state in U.S. history.”

The $15 billion bundle allocates $1.5 billion for wildfire prevention and forest well being, and greater than $5 billion for drought and water resilience. But it additionally features a record-breaking funding of greater than $1 billion in “climate-smart” agriculture, meant to spice up local weather resilience and assist farmers transition to practices which might be extra adaptive to local weather change. 

“We have a responsibility to lead the way,” Newsom stated. 

The funding in sustainable farming follows months of efforts by a coalition of nonprofit and public curiosity teams led by Jeanne Merrill, a sustainable farming advocate who’s coverage director for the California Climate and Agriculture Network, or CalCAN. 

Merrill, whose grandfather grew up on a dairy farm in Scotland, has labored on creating environmentally pleasant agricultural methods because the Nineties. A coverage wonk with a ardour for social justice and grassroots organizing, Merrill has lengthy advocated for investments to bolster the resilience of California’s meals and farming methods, and has helped state legislators acknowledge agriculture’s potential to cut back greenhouse gases and retailer carbon in soil. She additionally coordinates the coverage committee of the AB 125 Coalition, a various group of public curiosity organizations working to position a bond measure on the 2022 poll that may make investments greater than $3 billion over 5 years to help the state’s financial restoration from the coronavirus pandemic, fight local weather change, enhance meals safety for susceptible communities and shield farmworkers. 

Inside Climate News spoke to Merrill about what the state’s groundbreaking investments in sustainable agriculture can accomplish and what nonetheless must be finished. This interview has been edited for size and readability. 

Last month, Gov. Newsom signed payments making historic investments in climate-smart agriculture, together with applications to spice up sustainable practices, entry to wholesome, inexpensive meals and farmworker well being and security. You’ve been advocating for these kind of investments for a very long time. Do you suppose the shock of the pandemic influenced this funding?

Merrill: Yes, definitely, the pandemic has revealed the vulnerabilities of our meals and agriculture system and the actual must scale up our investments, not solely in climate- sensible agriculture but additionally in extra resilient meals and farm methods total. This is an unprecedented funds, to have over a billion {dollars} centered on meals and agriculture, resilience and financial restoration.

Climate-smart agriculture is a large win for a coalition of teams which have been working to advance these options for quite a few years now. We’ve gone by way of a really growth and bust cycle, with the entire climate-smart agriculture applications apart from one defunded final yr due to the uncertainties of the pandemic. And now, not solely do we now have investments in this present fiscal funds, but additionally commitments for ongoing funding subsequent yr and past. That’s vital as a result of, in order to construct momentum on the bottom with farmers and communities, to place tasks in place that make a distinction for the surroundings and for agriculture, we want multi-year, steady funding. And that’s what this funds offers.

There’s a really giant set of applications coated in this funds. Are there new applications which have by no means been funded earlier than? Are there any that you just really feel are particularly important for sustainable farmers, given the challenges of the local weather disaster?

Merrill: We have funding for current applications, like Healthy Soils, the State Water Efficiency Enhancement Program and the Alternative Manure Management Program, that are about offering technical and monetary help to farmers to have the ability to undertake climate-friendly practices on their operations which might be additionally good for his or her backside line. But a few of the thrilling new applications embody new funding in technical help for underserved farmers, significantly farmers of coloration. There’s additionally new cash, $7 million, for an natural transition program to help typical producers who’ve been in entering into natural agricultural administration. There’s additionally a brand new conservation administration planning program, which is about working with farmers to develop conservation plans on their farms. And that might be significantly essential as we see larger climate extremes. How we farm in the present day might be not how we are able to farm in the longer term, and so these conservation administration planning applications will help producers in eager about incorporating local weather science and different conservation issues into their operations. 

The hurdles are excessive for farmers who wish to get into sustainable farming or swap to natural farming. Will the brand new investments enable most individuals who wish to begin a sustainable farm or make the swap succeed? 

Merrill: Certainly it’s a difficult surroundings for starting farmers and people trying to get into proudly owning their very own farmland. Prices have gone up significantly in California, and entry to capital will be difficult. There are quite a few new applications which might be centered on learn how to help starting farmers and farmer apprenticeship. There’s $5 million for that in the brand new funds for this yr and a further $5 million proposed for subsequent yr. But definitely extra must be finished in phrases of different finance and taking a look at methods to help farmers, significantly those that could not have nice entry to capital and to land. 

The governor’s bundle included about $50 million for the State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP). How do SWEEP investments assist sustainable farmers cope with drought?

Merrill: SWEEP has been a very fashionable program amongst farmers. Typically, there are lots of extra purposes to that program than this system has had funding for in the previous. And it offers assets for farmers to avoid wasting on water, save on vitality, enhance total irrigation administration and cut back associated greenhouse gasoline emissions in phrases of the vitality used to maneuver that water. We discovered that loads of farmers are benefiting from this system on all scales and operation sorts. And there was lately an advisory group to the Department of Food and Agriculture [CDFA] on learn how to basically create SWEEP 2.0, in order that we’re greatest assembly the wants of farmers in phrases of attaining water financial savings, significantly in instances of drought. And that advisory group has put collectively a terrific set of suggestions. 

Currently, SWEEP will fund something from transitioning water pumps which might be diesel to photo voltaic to drip irrigation, soil moisture monitoring and different instruments to enhance water use effectivity on farms. The advisory group noticed that there are components of the state the place a few of these SWEEP practices don’t work as properly and had some suggestions on how we are able to higher help dual-use methods, for instance, the place you could maybe use drip on some events, however you could do flood or furrow irrigation [also known as surface irrigation] different instances of the yr.

We’re hopeful that CDFA, because it strikes ahead with this system, will undertake a lot of them to make this system work for a range of producers.

What’s left to be finished to make California’s farms extra resilient in the face of local weather change and to make sure that our farmworkers and their households are protected as local weather change brings extra heatwaves and wildfires?

Merrill: That’s a terrific query. There’s a set of University of California researchers who’ve actually checked out what local weather change could imply for California agriculture. And it’s fairly attainable that we received’t be capable to produce quite a few crops in the valley, it’ll merely be too scorching. So to be extra resilient in California agriculture, what we’re discovering is loads of the practices that assist cut back greenhouse gasoline emissions and improve carbon sinks on agricultural lands can present different advantages. When you improve soil natural matter, you additionally improve the water holding capability of soil. And that issues, as a result of in instances of drought, as we’re proper now, your soil is healthier capable of maintain on to that water. And when we now have instances of flood, which can also be anticipated in California—that we could shuttle between precipitation extremes—larger water holding capability in soils additionally offers resilience and tolerance to flood. 

So we have to deliver collectively the practices that not solely assist you cut back greenhouse gasoline emissions, but additionally enhance resilience. We want extra technical help, extra monetary help, we want extra analysis, we want extra boots on the bottom. And we have to help farmers in diversifying their operations and creating markets to try this. We want a biologically-based, biologically numerous agricultural system to help our meals safety and help the viability of agriculture. And we are able to get there. We’ve demonstrated that California farmers need these sorts of applications. It’s a matter of continuous to make them accessible, scaling them up, streamlining them and reaching the best variety of farmers that we are able to.