{"id":19140,"date":"2023-11-22T14:06:07","date_gmt":"2023-11-22T19:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ilsr.org\/?post_type=article&p=19140"},"modified":"2024-06-17T11:35:41","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T15:35:41","slug":"oklahoma-healthy-soils","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/ilsr.org\/es\/article\/composting-for-community\/oklahoma-healthy-soils","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma \u2013 Healthy Soils Program"},"template":"","migration":[],"article_type":[36],"initiatives":[15],"topics":[50,59],"impact_areas":[18],"authors":[638,629],"class_list":["post-19140","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry","article_type-state-policy","initiatives-composting-for-community","topics-agriculture","topics-buy-local","impact_areas-food-security","authors-megan-matthews","authors-sophia-jones"],"acf":{"details":{"featured_image":"","background_color":"tan","article_type":[36],"initiative":15,"display_event_fields":false,"display_case_study_fields":false,"start_date":null,"end_date":null,"start_time":null,"end_time":null,"time_zone":"America\/New_York","virtual_event":false,"location":"","locality":"","state":"","topics":[50,59],"impact_areas":[18],"abstract":"In November 2022, Oklahoma\u2019s Healthy Soil Program Act (HB 4412) took effect. The bill was originally vetoed by the Governor in May 2022, but the veto was overridden by Oklahoma\u2019s House and Senate. This policy supports farming systems and other land management practices that \u201cincrease soil organic matter, aggregate stability, microbiology and water retention to improve the health, yield, and profitability of the soils of the state\u201d by codifying soil health principles, funding, education, and technical assistance programs for farmers at the state level.","authors_tax":[629,638]},"sidebar":{"title":"\u00cdndice"},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"In November 2022, Oklahoma\u2019s Healthy Soil Program Act (HB 4412<\/a>) took effect. The bill was originally vetoed by the Governor in May 2022, but the veto was overridden by Oklahoma\u2019s House and Senate. This policy supports farming systems and other land management practices that \u201cincrease soil organic matter, aggregate stability, microbiology and water retention to improve the health, yield, and profitability of the soils of the state\u201d by codifying soil health principles, funding, education, and technical assistance programs for farmers at the state level.\r\n\r\nThe Act established a Healthy Soil Program<\/a>, administered by the Oklahoma Conservation Commission<\/a> (OCC) in collaboration with partner organizations<\/a>, consisting of (1) a healthy soil assessment and education program, (2) a healthy soil grant program, and (3) additional programs necessary to encourage collaboration between land managers and government agencies, including technical assistance and outreach. Healthy Soil Program funding, appropriated from the state\u2019s General Fund, supports grantmaking, education, outreach, staffing, capacity building, soil health research, and more.\r\n\r\nAdditionally, the Act defines \u201cHealthy soil\u201d and \u201cSoil health principle\u201d as follows:\r\n
\u201cHealthy soil\u201d means soil that enhances its continuing capacity to function as a biological system, increases its organic matter, and improves its structure and water- and nutrient-holding capacity\r\n\r\n\u201cSoil health principle\u201d means a principle that promotes soil health in a given environment and includes:\r\n\r\n1. keeping soil covered,\r\n\r\n2. minimizing soil disturbance on cropland and minimizing external inputs,\r\n\r\n3. maximizing biodiversity,\r\n\r\n4. maintaining a living root, or\r\n\r\n5. integrating animals into land management, including grazing animals, birds, beneficial insects, or keystone species, such as earthworms;<\/blockquote>\r\n

Healthy Soil Assessment and Education Program<\/h3>\r\nThe Healthy Soil Assessment and Education Program facilitates technical assistance, on-site workshops, training sessions, collaboration, and a statewide network of soil health champions. The OCC\u2019s Soil Health Education Program<\/a> offers workshops covering topics from core soil health principles to hands-on soil health assessment and restoration. Factsheets, articles, instructional PDFs, videos, and more resources<\/a> on soil health are also available.\r\n\r\n \r\n

Healthy Soil Grant Program<\/h3>\r\nThe Act also established a Healthy Soil Grant Program, which awards soil health stewardship grants to local government entities with proven capacity to support healthy soils, including local conservation districts. The legislation mandates user-friendly grant application and reporting processes and designates priority funding to serve youth, veterans, small farms and ranches, or economically or socially disadvantaged communities.\r\n\r\n \r\n

Supporting Local Compost and Food Systems<\/h2>\r\nThe Healthy Soil Program Act prioritizes local economic growth by mandating:\r\n