In November 2022, Oklahoma’s 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’s House and Senate. This policy supports farming systems and other land management practices that “increase soil organic matter, aggregate stability, microbiology and water retention to improve the health, yield, and profitability of the soils of the state” by codifying soil health principles, funding, education, and technical assistance programs for farmers at the state level.
The Act established a Healthy Soil Program, administered by the Oklahoma Conservation Commission (OCC) in collaboration with partner organizations, 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’s General Fund, supports grantmaking, education, outreach, staffing, capacity building, soil health research, and more.
Additionally, the Act defines “Healthy soil” and “Soil health principle” as follows:
“Healthy soil” 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
“Soil health principle” means a principle that promotes soil health in a given environment and includes:
1. keeping soil covered,
2. minimizing soil disturbance on cropland and minimizing external inputs,
3. maximizing biodiversity,
4. maintaining a living root, or
5. integrating animals into land management, including grazing animals, birds, beneficial insects, or keystone species, such as earthworms;
Healthy Soil Assessment and Education Program
The 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’s Soil Health Education Program 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 on soil health are also available.
Healthy Soil Grant Program
The 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.
Supporting Local Compost and Food Systems
The Healthy Soil Program Act prioritizes local economic growth by mandating:
- Identification of ways to increase the local generation and use of compost to build healthy soils;
- Priority for in-state sourcing of resources, including testing supplies, compost, seeds, fencing supplies, and equipment; and
- Supporting markets for food production in healthy Oklahoma soils.
Local generation and use of compost can be increased by encouraging home and community composting. Oklahoma residents can access resources about backyard composting from the Oklahoma Recycling Association, and the Oklahoma Compost and Sustainability Association hosts an annual Compost Conference. Fertile Ground Cooperative is a local, worker-owned cooperative that offers subscriptions for composting and recycling services.
Partnerships
Oklahoma has supported farmers and promoted the use of soil health principles for years. Prior to the Healthy Soils Program Act’s passage, the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (OACD) maintained the Soil Health Producer Network and administered a statewide, voluntary Healthy Soils Project. The Soil Health Producer Network connects agricultural producers via locally-led groups in Oklahoma to share resources, best management practices, success stories, and opportunities. Beginning in 2016, the OACD established 10 demonstration farms across the state, encouraging farmers to participate in conservation practices.
OACD also collaborates with the Oklahoma Black Historical Research Project Inc., the Association of Texas Soil & Water Conservation Districts, and Texas AgriForestry Small Farmers and Ranchers on the Conservation & Agriculture Reach Everyone (CARE) program. The CARE program provides cost-sharing and assistance to “increase the number of farmers/ranchers participating in conservation planning and programs in order to improve soil health, water quality, and the viability of working lands” with a focus on socially disadvantaged and veteran communities. Statewide success of CARE and other healthy soils programs has led to restored water quality in nearly 100 Oklahoma streams that were previously on the EPA’s list of impaired waterways.
More Information:
- Oklahoma Conservation Commission – Soil Health Resources
- Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts – Healthy Soils Project
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Original post November 22, 2023
