{"id":17115,"date":"2022-10-24T10:35:08","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T17:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calcanstaging.kinsta.cloud\/?p=17115"},"modified":"2022-10-24T10:33:32","modified_gmt":"2022-10-24T17:33:32","slug":"the-california-healthy-soils-program-perspectives-from-punjabi-farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calclimateag.org\/es\/the-california-healthy-soils-program-perspectives-from-punjabi-farmers\/","title":{"rendered":"The California Healthy Soils Program: Perspectives from Punjabi Farmers"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are pleased to share this guest blog by Aarij Bashir. Aarij is a recent graduate of the Master of Public Affairs program at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. This report was conducted as part of the program of professional education at the Goldman School, and CalCAN served as an advisor on the project. Aarij currently works with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada as a Senior Industry Development Officer in the North-West Regional Office in Edmonton, Alberta. You can read the original post on the Berkeley Food Institute website<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Farm size, land tenure, and access to technical expertise are major barriers that prevent participation in the Healthy Soils Program for many farmers, especially farmers of color.<\/h2>\n

In 2017, the California Department of Food and Agriculture<\/strong> launched the Healthy Soils Program (HSP). As drought, climate change, and overdrafted groundwater reserves put pressure on California farmers, the Healthy Soils Program would incentivize farming practices that help absorb more water in the soil, sequester carbon, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n

The program\u2019s first funding allocation was $7.5 million in 2017, followed by $15 million in 2018 and $28 million in 2020. In 2021, the program got a major funding boost of $75 million. However, the demand for the program also increased significantly with a total of 1,328 applications for total funding requests in excess of $90.5 million during the same period. But as the program grows more popular, it\u2019s becoming evident that it has an equity problem.<\/p>\n

It has been well-documented, including in internal CDFA reports on equity, that farmers of color, women farmers, and other immigrant farmers face barriers in accessing HSP funding. In a new report published by the Berkeley Food Institute, I research the experiences of Punjabi farmers in California seeking participation in the program, to better understand some of the challenges they face in adopting healthy soil practices and accessing HSP funding.<\/p>\n

While farmers in California have strong motivations to adopt healthy soil practices, there are structural barriers that prevent participation in HSP. These barriers include farm size, land tenure, and access to technical expertise, especially for farmers of color and other minority group farmers. These obstacles exist for many mid-scale and even large-scale farms. However, they disproportionately affect smaller-scale and socially disadvantaged farmers, as my analysis shows.<\/p>\n

Based on the need for equity in the program as well as making the application more farmer-centric, my report offers the following policy options are recommended to improve the CDFA Healthy Soils Program:<\/p>\n