What about the North Coast Soil Health Hub?

The North Coast Soil Health Hub is an agricultural network comprised of 7 Resource Conservation Districts – Gold Ridge, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, and Sonoma – as well as producers and partners in the region. In order to increase farm resiliency and steward the land for future generations, the Soil Hub works to identify the co-benefits of improved soil health in soils and agriculture specific to the North Coast. The Soil Hub aims to further the understanding of unique opportunities and challenges of soils in the region, and advance soil health practices and carbon farm planning through providing education and technical assistance to producers, sharing resources among RCDs, and harnessing collective fundraising power.

The Soil Hub was founded in 2017 and spent its first four years serving the vineyard community in Mendocino, Napa, and Sonoma Counties and partnering with wine grape growers, industry representatives, scientists, and agricultural professionals. The Soil Hub has established demonstration sites to model implementation of soil health practices, conducted field trials, assisted producers with soil health assessments, developed custom Carbon Farm Plans for producers, and hosted an annual Soil Symposium.

Now, the Soil Hub is leveraging its successes working with wine grape growers and expanding its network to encompass other production systems including range, dairy, orchards, and row crops. In addition to serving new land uses, the Soil Hub is expanding geographically to include Humboldt, Lake, and Marin Counties. The Soil Hub believes more can be accomplished when working together, and aims to meet the needs of producers in the region and support the incorporation of agriculture into local policy and planning initiatives.