Climate Smart Agriculture

Steven Lee, PhD, has worked as the farm manager for Quaker Oaks Farm in Visalia, CA for the past 5 years. This 22-acre nonprofit educational center includes 8 acres of native wetlands, 2 acres of organic mixed vegetable crops, and 1 acre of organic stone fruit and Asian pears.

In Spring 2019, one of the owners from Alves Dairy reached out about applying for an Alternative Manure Management Program (AMMP) grant through CDFA.

Congrats! You've been awarded a grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Healthy Soils Program. Now what? Once your grant has been executed and before you implement any of your practices, you need to take soil samples to measure the soil's baseline organic matter content.

Grower Profile #1: Frank Fernandes Practices: No-Till, Strip-Till, and Cover Crops Frank Fernandes grew up in a big dairy family in Tulare County. He has continued that tradition and now farms about 1,500 acres near Pixley. He grows corn, wheat, and alfalfa as forage for his cows.

Hedgerows are an approved practice under California Department of Agriculture's Healthy Soils Grant Program. That means, growers are eligible to receive grant funding for planting hedgerows.