A healthy soils program is a government-funded initiative that pays farmers and ranchers to adopt conservation practices — cover cropping, compost application, reduced tillage, hedgerow planting, and similar work — that build soil organic matter, store carbon, and improve resilience. California launched the first major state-level program in 2017, and more than fifteen states now run their own versions. A federal matching grant for state and tribal programs is moving through Congress in the 2026 Farm Bill.
What Practices Get Funded
California’s Healthy Soils Program, the largest and oldest, supports 29 conservation practices on cropland, orchards, vineyards, and grazing land. They fall into four broad groups: organic soil amendments (compost, mulch, whole orchard recycling, biochar), annual plantings (cover crops, crop rotations), permanent plantings (hedgerows, windbreaks, range planting), and reduced or no-till systems.1California Department of Food and Agriculture. Block Grant Program
Payments have historically been made as fixed, per-acre incentives. Representative California rates include $153.32 per acre for cover crops, up to $514.56 per acre for compost application, $40.74 per acre for reduced tillage, $81.54 per acre for prescribed grazing on pasture, and $11.82 per linear foot for hedgerow planting.2Community Alliance with Family Farmers. HSP Grant Info Since 2017, California has awarded $162.8 million to 2,340 on-farm projects covering roughly 190,000 acres.3California Department of Food and Agriculture. Healthy Soils Program
Other states frame eligible practices around a similar list of soil health principles: keeping soil covered, minimizing disturbance, maintaining living roots, maximizing biodiversity, and integrating livestock where appropriate.4New Mexico Department of Agriculture. Healthy Soil Program
How To Apply In California Right Now
The California Department of Food and Agriculture is no longer accepting applications directly from farmers. Starting in 2026, the program shifts to a block grant model: regional and specialized organizations receive large awards, then distribute funding and technical assistance to producers in their area.
The transition is funded by Proposition 4, the $10 billion climate resilience bond that California voters approved in November 2024. Of the $385 million the bond directs to climate-resilient, sustainable agriculture, $65 million is earmarked for the Healthy Soils Program.5California Climate & Agriculture Network. California Climate Bond Proposition 4 Each block grant recipient will receive between $2 million and $4 million, with 14 to 28 awards expected from that pool.6California State Grants Portal. Healthy Soils Program Block Grant
Concept proposals from organizations closed on May 15, 2026. Full proposals are due in August 2026, awards are expected in September, and agreements with selected block grant recipients should be in place by January 2027. Farmers and ranchers will apply through their regional recipient after that. A separate tribal set-aside of up to $4 million will be solicited through a consultation process in early 2027.1California Department of Food and Agriculture. Block Grant Program
Prior California funding has come from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (fed by cap-and-trade auction revenue), California Climate Investments, the state general fund, and Proposition 68 bond money. The 2023 state budget added $50 million from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund through Assembly Bill 102.7California Air Resources Board. CDFA HSP Expenditure Record
Programs In Other States
More than a dozen states run healthy soils programs or have enacted enabling legislation. Structures vary with local agriculture and politics.
Colorado launched a voluntary Soil Health Program in 2021 under HB 1181, built around six core principles including soil armor, minimizing disturbance, plant diversity, and livestock integration. Its Soil Health and Optimizing Water (SHOW) grant provides up to $50,000 per project for work linking soil health to water management, with an education component required. Producers, conservation districts, nonprofits, and research institutions can apply.8Colorado Department of Agriculture. Boosting Farm Resilience
New Mexico passed the Healthy Soil Act in 2019 with an initial $5.15 million appropriation. Projects must follow five soil health principles. Eligible applicants are tribes, land grants, acequias, and soil and water conservation districts; individual farmers participate through those entities.4New Mexico Department of Agriculture. Healthy Soil Program
Illinois created the Healthy Soils and Watersheds Initiative through SB 1701 (Public Act 103-0494), effective August 2023, with $18 million invested in the Partners for Conservation Fund. The program is voluntary and incentive-based, and soil and water conservation districts must produce annual local soil health assessments.9Illinois General Assembly. Public Act 103-0494
Massachusetts completed a three-year Healthy Soils Action Plan in 2023, reportedly the first state plan to cover all land use types, including farms, forests, wetlands, and developed open spaces.10Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Healthy Soils Initiative
Hawaii passed SB 660 in 2023 and followed with SB 2423 in 2024, appropriating $500,000 to establish a program in the Department of Agriculture that will develop a statewide soil health assessment, identify effective practices, and issue financial incentives.11Hawaii State Legislature. SB 2423
Additional states with enacted legislation or active programs include Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington.12National Conference of State Legislatures. Soil Health
Federal Funding And The 2026 Farm Bill
At the federal level, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service supports soil health through its established conservation programs and offers free technical assistance from local field offices. NRCS helps producers design soil health management systems built around four principles: maximizing living roots, minimizing disturbance, maximizing soil cover, and maximizing biodiversity.13USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Soil Health
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 added billions to conservation programs including the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program, plus $300 million specifically for practices that improve soil carbon, reduce nitrogen losses, or address agriculture-related greenhouse gases.12National Conference of State Legislatures. Soil Health
The Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, reported out of the House Agriculture Committee in March 2026, would retain roughly $14 billion in unspent IRA conservation funding within the Farm Bill Conservation Title. It also proposes a new $100 million annual federal matching grant for state and tribal soil health programs, housed in the Conservation Stewardship Program. The match is designed to augment existing state investments, meet unmet demand, and encourage states without programs to create them. The CSP baseline would rise from $1 billion under the 2018 Farm Bill to $1.375 billion for future farm bills.14American Farmland Trust. A Deep Dive Into the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026
Does It Pay Off On The Farm
Several recent studies have put numbers to the farm-level economics. The Soil Health Institute’s Economics of Soil Health on 100 Farms report found that soil health management systems reduced production costs by an average of $24 per acre for corn and $16.57 per acre for soybeans. Net income rose for 85 percent of corn growers and 88 percent of soybean growers, with average gains of $51.60 per acre for corn and $44.89 per acre for soybeans. Sixty-seven percent of participating farmers reported yield increases.15Soil Health Institute. Economics of Soil Health on 100 Farms
American Farmland Trust’s partial budget analyses of 26 farms found that 20 of 23 row-crop farmers credited yield increases of $16 to $356 per acre to their soil health systems. Net annual income ranged from a $5 per acre loss on one Kentucky operation to $209 per acre on a Virginia farm. California almond growers saw particularly large returns, with one operation reporting $1,258 per acre in additional annual income and a 553 percent return on investment. Cost savings came mostly from reduced fertilizer ($5 to $84 per acre), machinery and fuel ($17 to $92 per acre for no-till adopters), and pesticides ($3 to $36 per acre).16American Farmland Trust. Soil Health Case Study Findings
A 2026 study of Georgia cotton growers in the Agronomy Journal traced the transition economics. Early stages brought net losses as farmers invested in new equipment and cover crop seed. Once reduced irrigation, fertilizer, and pesticide costs showed up alongside yield improvements, net farm income rose by roughly $97 per acre compared with conventional systems.17Agronomy Journal. Stages of Farm Profitability After Soil Health System Adoption in Georgia Cotton
Known Problems With The Programs
A University of California, Berkeley study documented persistent equity barriers in California’s program. Although CDFA policy sets aside 25 percent of funding for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, the earlier first-come, first-served application process disadvantaged smaller-scale and non-English-speaking producers who needed more time with paperwork. Average grantee farm size was 1,300 acres against a median of 80 acres, indicating that funding flowed disproportionately to larger operations. Other documented barriers included complicated paperwork, rigid three-year practice requirements that did not suit diversified crop rotations, limited personal contact with CDFA staff, and scoring criteria that functioned as a checklist rather than evaluating a project’s actual carbon potential.18UC Berkeley Food Institute. Punjabi Farmers and the Healthy Soils Program The shift to block grants is partly intended to address these problems by placing technical assistance at the regional level.
Adoption remains low. Only about 5 percent of California’s arable land uses healthy soil practices, and only 5 percent of U.S. cropland is planted to cover crops.19Soil Health Institute. Soil Health Institute Announces Five Strategic Goals A 2025 review in the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation pointed to several reinforcing causes: the practices are complex to implement, many benefits occur underground and take years to show, and social and cultural norms within farming communities can discourage experimentation when peers, landlords, or family are skeptical.20Taylor & Francis Online. Conservation Practice Adoption Research Review
The climate case has limits worth knowing before signing a multi-year contract. Soil carbon gains typically persist for two to three decades before soils approach a new equilibrium, and if the practice stops, much of the stored carbon can be released again. An OECD analysis put sequestration rates for common practices like cover cropping and tillage management at 0.03 to 0.4 metric tons of carbon per hectare per year and stressed that soil-based sequestration cannot remove atmospheric carbon fast enough to substitute for emissions cuts.21Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Soil Carbon Sequestration by Agriculture For a farmer, the co-benefits — water-holding capacity, nutrient cycling, drought resilience — often matter as much as the carbon math.22USDA Climate Hubs. Soil Health, Soil Amendments, and Carbon Farming