CARBON FARMING

Design and Implementation

Practice-Specific Resources

Below are helpful documents about the county’s most common carbon farming practices for design and implementation purposes. Much of the information is tailored to Marin County.

Marin RCD’s Carbon Farming Program:

Designs and Implementation

Marin RCD, in collaboration with our partners (see sidebar), provides technical and financial assistance to landowners and land stewards to plan, design, and implement projects on West Marin working lands that promote soil and watershed health, wildlife habitat, greenhouse gas sequestration, and restoration education for local K-12 students.

Our carbon farming program first engages land stewards by creating Carbon Farm Plans to guide future implementation of NRCS practices that sequester carbon or reduce emissions. Practices include: conservation cover, residue and tillage management, cover cropping, critical area planting, multistory cropping, filter strip, grassed waterway, hedgerow planting, compost application, forage biomass planting, prescribed grazing, range planting, riparian forest buffer, riparian restoration, riparian herbaceous cover, wetland restoration, tree and shrub establishment, windbreak establishment, silvopasture establishment, combustion system improvement, land reclamation and landslide treatment, anaerobic digester, and landfill emissions reduction through on-site compost production. Also included in our plans and program include the following supporting practices: riparian fence, water development, grade stabilization structure, spring development, streambank protection, and stream channel stabilization. After a Carbon Farm Plan is created, a land steward can implement practices on their own, seek technical and financial assistance from Marin RCD and/or our partners, or apply to implementation grants on their own (see the table linked in the “Funding” sidebar for more information).

Some expected co-benefits of implementing carbon farming practices include: improving the ability of farmers and ranchers to adapt to existing and future impacts of drought and climate change by increasing groundwater recharge and soil water-holding capacity (a 1% increase in soil organic matter – a majority of which is carbon – will hold 20,000 gallons more water per acre!); increasing on-farm plant diversity; preserving, improving and/or enhancing wildlife habitat; reducing GHG emissions; and increasing agricultural productivity.