Hero Image

Healthy Soils Program (HSP)

Current Status of Program

The application for this program is currently CLOSED. This page will update with program opportunity once application opens.

The Healthy Soils Program (HSP) provides financial assistance to growers to implement conservation management practices that improve soil health, sequester carbon, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions on California’s farmlands and ranch lands. CDFA awards up to $100,000 to qualifying projects for the incentive program. 

cover crops

Eligible practices include:

  • Compost
  • Cover crops
  • Hedgerows
  • No-till or reduced-till
  • Whole-orchard recycling
  • Rangeland plantings and prescribed grazing

Contact UC Cooperative Extension specialists for free technical assistance with the application or implementation of your HSP project. 

Resources for future applicants
Resources for grant recipients

Success stories

Check out the following profiles to see how your neighbors in the San Joaquin Valley have done some of these practices:

Frank Fernandes and tillage radish. Photo by Shulamit Shroder Frank Fernandes, a Tulare dairyman, has done no-till, strip till, and cover crops at his ranch.
Part of the vegetable cropping system at Quaker Oaks Farm. Photo by Shulamit Shroder Quaker Oaks, a diversified fruit and vegetable farm, does mulch, compost, hedgerows, and cover crops
Cover crops in the cotton field. Photo by Paige Green. https://www.csuchico.edu/regenerativeagriculture/demos/fat-uncle-farms.shtml Nathanael Siemens does cover cropping, compost, and no till on his organic grain and cotton fields
Black plastic tarps provide weed control. Photo by Shulamit Shroder Pickalittle Farm, a diversified vegetable farm in Bakersfield, does cover crops, compost, and occultation

 

Official HSP Website Overview