Rancher learns that adding carbon benefits the soil

Loren Poncia has come to believe that the more carbon he can get into the rangeland soil of his Stemple Creek Ranch in Sonoma County through composting and managed grazing, the more his grass-fed beef and lamb business will thrive.

He says the carbon makes the ground his family has farmed for more than a century better able to absorb and hold more water, which in turn makes it produce more grass for the animals during a longer season, and that reduces the amount of money that has to be spent on feed in the dry months.

"For every 1% of carbon we store, the ground can hold another 18,000 gallons of water an acre," Poncia said. "I want all the rain that falls on our ranch to stay here. We want more carbon in the soil, because then we can store more water and grow more feed."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service has developed a free software program that lets farmers see the impact 34 different practices have in increasing carbon sequestration and reducing greenhouse gas emissions (www.comet-planner.com/).

The program at Stemple Creek Ranch includes regular applications of compost, combining chicken manure from the farm next door mixed with grape pomace from nearby Marin County vineyards, and a rigorous program of intensive grazing followed by periods of rest to allow the grass and ground to recover.

"We have been farming this ground for over 100 years; it's a dance with nature and sometimes we step on each other's toes," Poncia said. "Mother Nature will bankrupt you if you keep abusing her."

He made his remarks as participants in the California Department of Food and Agriculture Climate Smart Agriculture Summit visited Stemple Creek Ranch, one of three agricultural test cases for a 10-year study under the Marin Carbon Project.

The CDFA Healthy Soils Program uses funds from the state cap-and-trade energy fund—$7.5 million of it last year—to provide incentives to farmers and sponsor research projects into practices intended to make farms and ranches more viable by improving soil quality, while also mitigating climate change.

"Farmers need to know what they can do to sequester more carbon," said Jarrid Bordessa, a fifth-generation Sonoma County dairy farmer at the family-owned Ocean Breeze Dairy. "Compost application is the low-hanging fruit; it gives us more feed and is good for the environment."

Ocean Breeze is one of three Organic Valley dairies working on carbon plans funded by the CDFA, the USDA and General Mills.

Bordessa already composts manure flushed from the barn in nearby piles on the ranch, applies the compost to 30 test acres, and will soon take the next step when he reduces methane gas emissions during the flushing by scraping the manure first.

The CDFA Healthy Soils Program and the USDA are financing a limited number of these on-farm carbon plans, and response from growers has been enthusiastic.

"Resource conservation districts statewide are finding huge response from farmers when they ask who wants help putting together a carbon plan," said Brittany Jensen, executive director of the Gold Ridge RCD, which serves Sonoma County.

Preservation of farms and ranches is becoming ever more important to environmentalists who are focused on climate change.

"We are losing 1.5 million acres of farmland a year," said John Piotti, president of American Farmland Trust. "In the last 20 years, we have lost the equivalent of all the farmland in Iowa. When farmland is lost to development, the increase in greenhouse gas is enormous."

Carbon is bringing together a generation of scientists who see it as the key to slowing climate change and farmers who want to build more resilient soil that can hold more water and produce food in future generations.

"This gives us some training in farming like our great-great-grandfathers did, but with more science," said Kevin Lenny, Marin County Farm Bureau president and a grass-fed beef rancher. "The science is fantastic, and is good both for the climate and for family farmers."

The Marin Agricultural Land Trust helped Poncia hold on to and even expand Stemple Creek Ranch by buying development rights to the property, which let him pay off a $1.5 million tax bill on an inherited portion.

"We help farmers feel secure in their land if they inherit it with a large tax bill or with siblings who don't want to farm," said Jeff Stump, Marin Agricultural Land Trust director of conservation. "Permanency makes it possible for farmers to invest in their land. When we talk to the farmers, it is about resiliency, because putting more carbon in the soil makes it more resilient."

For his part, Poncia said he is as thankful for the expertise as he was for the conservation easement financial help.

"I don't know how you could go wrong getting more carbon in the soil," he said. "I consider us to be blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by such educated people"

(Bob Johnson is a reporter in Sacramento. He may be contacted at bjohn11135@gmail.com.)