Marin Carbon Project and the Carbon Connection

By David Lewis, UCCE Marin Director

What began as a conversation and an idea between a Marin rancher, a local rangeland expert, and a University of California Berkeley professor has grown into a strong partnership of local organizations and multiple ranchers doing on-the-ground projects.

The Conversation and Proof of Concept
John Wick, co-owner with Peggy Rathmann of Nicasio Native Grass Ranch, and Dr. Jeff Creque, area rangeland consultant, had been collaborating on John and Peggy’s ranch for several years to improve ranch productivity through soil management. The more John learned the more he became interested in the potential to capture carbon that would benefit the ranch and provide one solution to climate change. “There were visual signs on the ranch that our efforts were making a difference in productivity but we had no way to measure and confirm what was happening” John related in telling the story. “We had hopes it was for the good and wanted to make sure we were not making things worse with regard to climate.” John and Jeff arranged for a meeting in 2007 with several UC Berkeley faculty to explore how this potential could be researched and scientifically confirmed. In attendance was Dr. Whendee Silver, a Biogeochemist that had been working on rainforest carbon dynamics. Dr. Silver, with the measured objectivity and skepticism of a trained researcher, took interest in the question presented by John and Jeff – can farming and ranching practices capture carbon from the air and store it in rangeland soils? Where it belongs?

That conversation initiated a research program that has now published more than six scientific articles and provided confirmation that the application of compost on California rangeland soils leads to significant and long-lasting carbon capture and storage. In addition to this offset of greenhouse gas emissions, forage production on test pastures is 40 to 70 percent higher than pastures without compost. A result that is likely driven by the documented increase in soil organic matter and the amount of water stored in compost treated soils. This proof of concept for carbon sequestration and documented gains in ranch productivity provided the needed confidence and credibility to scale up and implement this practice and others on cooperating ranches.

Scaling up through Partnership
In parallel with that conversation, Marin’s agricultural support organizations were forging a partnership around agriculture and climate resiliency. Representatives from the Carbon Cycle Institute, Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Marin Agricultural Department, Marin Resource Conservation District, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and University of California Cooperative Extension forged the Marin Carbon Project to coordinate respective strengths and roles for broader community education and on ranch program implementation. “We are working on agricultural solutions to climate change,” summed up Jeff Creque. The Marin Carbon Project is doing this by taking the results from research plots of a few acres and scaling up to the entire ranch, countywide.

The cornerstone of this partnership is the development of Carbon Farm Plans. Comprehensive ranch specific documents detailing a suite of carbon beneficial practices that when implemented amount to substantial quantities of carbon captured on the ranch. Presently, the Marin Carbon Project through the leadership of Lynette Niebrugge - MRCD, Jim Jenson - MALT, and Jeff Creque - CCI have completed three plans. These plans adapt carbon beneficial practices, including compost application, methane digesters, and riparian forests among others -recommended by Natural Resources Conservation Service to specific soil conditions and production systems of each ranch.

Ranchers’ Interest and Role
“Most of us in ranching make our living from the soil” opened Loren Poncia, owner of Stemple Creek Ranch, when asked why he signed up for the Marin Carbon Project. “I don’t have all the answers, I am just learning and I needed education about soil and soil health,” he added. Loren along with Albert Straus, owner of Blake’s Landing Farm and Straus Family Creamery and Hank Corda, co-owner of the Corda Ranch and Director of the Marin Resource Conservation Service are participating with the Marin Carbon Project as three demonstration ranches. The Marin Carbon Project is “allowing me to plan and take a longer term approach with more expertise to make on-farm changes,” shared Albert. “Personally, I had been looking to establish a baseline for our farm and as a business Strauss Family Creamery’s mission is to make family dairy farms viable and part of that is to improve soil conditions,” he added. Hank, echoed Albert and Loren’s thoughts explaining, “we are benefiting from a five year plan that gives us a vision for our ranch beyond that. Helping us layout rotations for grazing and opportunities to grow more feed.”

These carbon farm plans are already making a positive difference for ranch operations and management. “I see a marked difference with the amount of residual dry matter in our pastures,” Hank shared, continuing “we were able to bail this additional grass for feed.” He emphasized that “even though we didn’t have a lot of rain this year we still had sufficient feed.” “One thing I am doing is paying attention to what is happening with the grass and soil,” Loren related, “another is that I am looking to use compost throughout the ranch.” Similarly, Hank offered “we plan to use more compost and even make some on the ranch for use.” Albert’s next steps include “putting up hedgerows and pasture fencing” to improve herd rotation through fields. Reflecting on broader benefits, Albert added about the Marin Carbon Project efforts, “quantifying the role of methane digesters helps tell the story of our farm and area farms reducing GHG emissions and working on climate change.”

Taking it all the way to the Capitol
The real challenge is securing the “support needed to do it at a scale needed to make a difference to the climate,” Jeff Creque stressed. Fortunately, steps like Governor Brown’s approval of the California Healthy Soil Initiative and approval of carbon beneficial practices by the American Carbon Registry and California Air Pollutions Control Officers Association are putting that support in place. At a local and regional level support is needed through the alignment of policies in specific county climate action plans and Air Quality Management Districts that recognize the potential offsets and solutions agriculture can provide. Climate change is an “all hands on deck crisis” Jeff emphasized and added “ranchers bring a passion to their relationships with their lands and soil, and with the right level of support we can make it.”

Next >>