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A number of programs exist for investment in achieving healthy soils, including those from federal and state agencies. USDA continues to develop and enhance climate programs that will achieve healthy soil benefits.
Oregon passed new legislation in 2023 for funding climate related projects on forest, agriculture lands and coastal/wetlands projects: natural climate solutions on natural and working lands.
USDA is investing $10 million in a new initiative to sample, measure, and monitor soil carbon on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres to quantify climate outcomes from the program. The “Daily Century Model” (Day Cent) simulates the movement of carbon and nitrogen through agricultural systems. Data will be used to strengthen the COMET-Farm and COMET-Planner tools. For lands enrolled in CRP there are new incentives for environmental practices and a more targeted focus on the program’s role in climate change mitigation. See What’s New fact sheet. FSA offers multiple CRP signups for its ongoing program.
By 2021, twenty states formalized soil health initiatives through resolutions and laws, with an additional twenty signaling interest through related policy activity. See the State Healthy Soil Policy Map, 2021. In 2021, 31 states had Healthy Soils legislation on their dockets, with resolutions passing and bills becoming law in 14 states. The total number of states with Healthy Soils resolutions and laws is now 20, with 10 of those in 2021 and others from prior years. These 20 states include 47.5% of U.S. farm acreage based upon 2017 National Agricultural Statistics Service Agricultural Census.
Frontiers Forum provides speakers and articles on science-led solutions. It is a non-profit entity without commercial backing to provide independent information. This is a very in-depth article speaking to natural climate solutions and the strengths, limitations and opportunities of various programs..
USDA Support for Climate Smart Agriculture in 2022
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is providing new and expanded opportunities for climate smart agriculture, including nationwide availability of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Conservation Incentive Contracts option, a new and streamlined EQIP Cover Crop Initiative, and added flexibilities for producers to easily re-enroll in the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). These improvements to NRCS’ working lands conservation programs, combined with continued program opportunities in all states, are part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s broader
effort to support climate-smart agriculture.
See also Environmental Incentives Program fact sheet on incentive contracts.
See NRCS Oregon for a full description of the programs that focus on soil health and conservation and for a list of local service centers for technical and financial assistance.
The 2023 Oregon Legislature adopted HB 3409, an omnibus climate bill that included the policy for natural climate solutions on natural and working lands (formerly SB 530). Part of the package is the Natural and Working Lands Fund that provides an investment of $10 million as incentives for projects on private property.
This is an outline of the program from the Oregon Global Warming Commission
HB 3409 Sections 53-67/SB 530. Tasks described below are to be completed between September 2023 and December 2024.
The Forest Resilience Bond (FRB) seeks to overcome the funding gap for forest restoration, not through increases in public or philanthropic sources, but by allowing private capital to play a role in support of public land management. Over $3.1 billion in sustainable investment capital remains undeployed due to a lack of investment opportunities in the conservation finance space, according to a report by Forest Trends and JP Morgan. As a result, conservation-focused investors have not had an opportunity to support these projects due to a lack of viable deals.
Conservation Finance, as detailed above, promotes private capital investment in conservation initiatives. This link describes the value of that financing for coastal Oregon blue carbon development.
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