California Soil Restoration Project

Interested in increasing your profits and restoring your soil?

Members of the Oakville Bluegrass Cooperative who grow permanent crops in California may be able to earn up to $100/year/acre for practices that promote soil health by joining the California Soil Restoration Project.

An expansive orchard with rows of young trees on either side, a lush alley of Oakville bluegrass path running down the center, under an overcast sky.

Growers who participate in the California Soil Restoration Project agree to:

  • Implement eligible carbon-storing practices that work for their operation, such as

    • Keeping continuous living cover on the soil with annual or perennial plants

    • Minimizing tillage

    • Incorporating vine and tree biomass into the soil at redevelopment as either chips or biochar

  • Enroll fields with eligible practices in the project using the project tracking system

  • Provide access to enrolled fields for soil sample collection

  • Update field information when practices change

  • Maintain an active membership in Oakville Bluegrass Cooperative

Vineyard with leafless grapevines supported by wooden and wire trellises, with Oakville bluegrass and fallen leaves on the ground, and a tree-covered hill in the distance.

The CSRP Project Manager agrees to:

  • Develop a project design and execution plan that meets Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) standards

  • Secure investors to fund the development phase of the project

  • Contract with a certified “Verification and Validation Body” to audit the project plan

  • Develop and maintain a tracking system for reporting the activities of project participants

  • Create soil sampling plans that meet the most rigorous standards for quantifying changes in Soil Organic Carbon stocks in fields

  • Manage the collection, analysis, and reporting of soil samples from enrolled fields

  • Manage carbon credit accounting to VCM standards, including annual estimation of carbon removal, calculation of uncertainty deductions and tracking of buffer pools

  • Issue and register CDR credits

  • Negotiate CDR purchase agreements with corporate buyers

  • Report CDR portfolio performance to buyers

  • Collect payments from buyers and distribute funds to participating growers

  • Retain an auditor to certify ongoing compliance of the project with the Project Design

  • Monitor fields for reversals of the eligible practices for 40 years

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