USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities: California Cool-season Specialty Crops

This project is intended to increase the resilience of California cool-season specialty crops to climate change. Through implementation of climate-smart nutrient management practices, the measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification (MMRV) portion of the project aims to understand the impacts of conservation management strategies on environmental and agronomic outcomes.

To obtain more information, see here.

The Goals of the Project are to:

Reduce Total Nitrogen Applied
Improve Nitrogen Use Efficiency
Increase Soil Organic Matter
Limit Emissions of the Greenhouse Gas Nitrous Oxide
Decrease Nitrogen leaching as Nitrate
Maintain Crop Yield & Quality Relative to Standard Practice

We are seeking underserved producers interested in participating in an incentive program to support the implementation of these climate-smart NRCS Conservation Practice Standards (CPS):

Cover Crop (CPS 340)
Nutrient Management (CPS 590)
Soil Carbon Amendment (CPS 336)

To obtain more information please complete this form here.

Team Partners

The Laboratory of Biogeochemisty

California State University Monterey Bay

The Resource Conservation District

of Monterey County

Horwarth Biogeochemistry & Nutrient Cycling Lab

University of California Davis

The Western Growers

Family of Companies

This work is supported by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities Grant number NR233A750004G099.

For more information contact: cbrsmith@ucanr.edu