Fibershed Healthy Soils Program Block Grant

Leer en español

Conservation Funding for Fiber Farmers and Ranchers

Fibershed is funded by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to provide technical assistance to Healthy Soils Program (HSP) grant applicants, free of charge.

We are currently accepting applications!

Fibershed’s Healthy Soils Program block grant provides free technical assistance and financial resources to farmers and ranchers interested in adopting climate-beneficial agricultural management practices.

The Healthy Soils Program works to support farmers and ranchers in implementing land management practices that improve soil health and biodiversity, sequester carbon, and reduce atmospheric greenhouse gasses. Through this program producers can apply to receive up to $200,000 of cost share grant funding for projects like hedgerow plantings, silvopasture, compost application, and cover cropping.

Applications for projects will be scored based on the following criteria: 

1. Production of cotton, wool, flax, silk or other fiber based crops or dye plants.
2. Role of practices in contributing to landscape health.
3. Qualify as a Socially Disadvantaged Farmer or Rancher (SDFR), as defined by California’s 2017 Farmer Equity Act*

*At least 25% of funding and technical assistance will be allocated to Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers (SDFR). According to the 2017 Farmer Equity Act, SDFRs are a group whose members have been subjected to racial, ethnic, or gender prejudice because of their identity without regard to their individual qualities. These groups include: African Americans, Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. 

Approximately 40 on-farm projects will be selected during the 3 year lifetime of this grant. Additional projects will be approved on a first-come, first-served basis. Projects will be awarded until funds are exhausted.

Advance payments for practices are available upon request as part of the implementation process (project application must be approved first). Learn more here.

How to Apply:

1. Fill out the prescreen form. A member of the Fibershed team or your local Resource Conservation District (RCD) will reach out to schedule a meeting/site visit to go over how you’d like to use this grant funding.
2. If you are a good fit for the program, we will ask you to complete the rest of the application materials. This includes generating a RePlan report for all the practices you would like to complete over the next 3 years, an application form, and a letter of commitment.
3. Some practices may require additional supplemental documentation. For example, Prescribed Grazing requires the submission of a grazing plan with your application. We will review these details in our screening call.
4. Once your documents have all been prepared, we send them to CDFA for final approval. This process can take up to 1-4 weeks (assuming there are no issues with incorrect information, mismatched practices, etc.). Practice implementation cannot begin until your project has been approved in order to receive funding.

We are here to help you throughout the planning and application process. If you’re approved, we offer additional support throughout the three year grant period for practice implementation, documentation, and reporting. All technical assistance and grant support is provided free of charge.