BOSTON – The Healey-Driscoll Administration today announced over $1 million in grants to promote and protect Massachusetts soil health. The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) awarded Healthy Soils Plan Implementation Challenge Grants to 15 organizations to improve the management of soils in agriculture, prevent soil degradation, and support soil’s critical role in carbon sequestration. Grantees will explore soil health challenges in five different types of land uses: agriculture, forests, wetlands, recreational and ornamental, and impervious environments.
“One of our most important natural resources is right beneath our feet- soil. Protecting soil quality is essential to stewarding our ecosystems and sustaining Massachusetts agricultural industry,” said EEA Secretary Rebecca Tepper. “Healthy soil is the foundation for climate resilient communities. Implementing thoughtful land management strategies is vital to maintaining biodiversity, promoting water quality and reducing carbon in the atmosphere.”
EEA’sHealthy Soils Action Plan provides an assessment of the condition of Massachusetts’ soils and offers a blueprint for effectively conserving, protecting, restoring, and managing soils to improve ecosystems and the well-being of communities. The plan recommends preserving forests, accelerating wetland restoration, turf replacement, and incentivizing sustainable soil agricultural practices to promote healthy soil. Grantees will support the implementation of these strategies outlined in the plan.
The ability of soil to capture and store carbon plays a key role in Massachusetts’s climate strategy. Organic carbon in the soil serves as a major reservoir of stored carbon, and undisturbed soils absorb a significant amount of carbon each year. Soil carbon content is also a reasonable measure of the health and productivity of farms, forests, and wetlands. Massachusetts is the first state to complete a healthy soils plan for all of its land use types.
“Healthy soils mean less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, increased earnings for farmers, and more fresh local produce to feed the people of our Commonwealth,” said Senator Jo Comerford (D-Northampton). “I have been proud to work on healthy soils, from passing one of the first laws in the nation focused specifically on soil health to securing funding for implementation of the state Healthy Soils Action Plan. Today I am so pleased to see this work bearing fruit, with groups in my district like the Hampshire and Franklin Conservation Districts, Just Roots, the Regenerative Design Group, and Landscape Interactions receiving funding for exciting projects like a no-till equipment rental program, free soil analysis for farmers and residents, converting parcels of farmland to no-till production, and hosting educational events. I am deeply grateful to the Healey-Driscoll Administration and the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs for their continued commitment to promote healthy soils across the Commonwealth.”
“We need to use every tool at our disposal to curb our emissions. As the second largest carbon sink, soil can play a key role in meeting our climate goals by 2050,” said Representative Steve Owens (D-29th Middlesex). “Looking at soil health now will help us to protect the Commonwealth and its residents for decades to come.”
Awardee | Proposal | Description | Total Grant Award |
Regenerative Design Group | Guide for Implementing the Healthy Soils Action Plan in Design and Construction | This project will develop a guide, resources, and network for implementing HSAP recommendations in construction. The project team will convene professionals from related fields in coordinated events to identify needs and gather insights. The findings will contribute to a web-based resource called “A Guide for Implementing the Healthy Soils Action Plan in Design and Construction.” This guide will include soil health information, example specifications, case studies, and actionable recommendations for improving soil health in Massachusetts‘ developed lands. | $99,900 |
Landscape Interactions | Healthy Soil through Maximum Biodiversity: Farmscape Models for Resilient Design and Land Management Using Pollinator Habitat | The objective of this project is to demonstrate a series of new practices to improve soil health at five Western Massachusetts farms, ranging from urban to rural, through the incorporation of native pollinator-supporting vegetation. Natural landscapes with a diversity of native vegetation contribute directly to not only soil health but also soil carbon sequestration. Well-informed landscape decisions can have an outsized role in buffering the impacts of development to soils and ecosystems by restoring biodiversity in the form of plant-pollinator communities. | $99,900 |
UMass Proposal No. 10399 submitted on behalf of Prof. Clay | Demonstration and Education to Increase Soil Health Adoption on Massachusetts Cropland | The project will increase understanding of soil health and support adoption of agricultural practices that promote it. Specifically, the project will address scientific and farmer knowledge gaps by: (1) supporting on-farm soil health evaluation; (2) demonstrating no-till and cover crop adoption at our research farm with a focus on soil pH, microbial activity, and short-term carbon storage; and (3) incorporating Massachusetts-specific knowledge into soil health recommendations offered by the UMass Extension Soil and Plant Nutrient Testing Lab. | $79,900 |
Regenerative Design Group | Soil Organic Carbon Mapping Project | No publicly accessible GIS layers are currently available to estimate current or potential soil carbon stocks. This project will address this critical gap by building on the HSAP GIS modules to create a series of flexible layers suitable for state hosting and public use. These layers, combined with targeted trainings, will assist planners, policy-makers, and resource professionals in identifying critical areas for protection and intervention, assessing impacts of development, and understanding effects of land use change and management on soil carbon. | $69,100 |
Worcester County Conservation District | Improving soil health of target agricultural, forested, and developed landscapes | The Worcester County Conservation District is receiving a $75,000 Challenge Grant to implement the Commonwealth’s Healthy Soils Action Plan, integrating it into their existing Healthy Soils Initiative. This funding will establish a Healthy Soils, Healthy Climate program to enhance soil health practices across developed, agricultural, and forested landscapes in Worcester County. The program prioritizes lawns, ornamental landscapes, impervious surfaces, and degraded areas, while facilitating outreach and assistance to farmers and forest landowners. | $75,000 |
Middlesex Conservation District | Healthy Soils Action Plan: Transitioning Lawns into Meadowlands | The FY 2024 Healthy Soils Challenge Grant will fund the Middlesex Conservation District for a pilot project to oversee the implementation of transitioning lawns into naturalized meadowlands. The District has seen a resurgence of interest in the sustainable use of land, including developed areas. Furthermore, there has been an increased interest in planting native plants. The project will identify four to five pilot plots to implement this plan. | $20,800 |
Linnean Solutions | Healthy Soils Voc-Tech Curriculum | This project will create a vocational-technical (voc-tech) curriculum for high schoolers that combines learnings and recommendations from the HSAP with Indigenous stewardship practices and cultural knowledge (referred to throughout the proposal as The Healthy Soils Voc-Tech Curriculum) | $79,100 |
Momentum Ag | Building a Community of Carbon Farmers in Massachusetts | Momentum Ag and a group of thirteen MA farmers will partner with UMass Extension, CISA, and NOFA- MA to trial, document, and disseminate an exciting new perennial Clover Living Mulch System (CLMS) that offers significant carbon sequestration, soil health and climate adaptation/mitigation benefits as compared to traditional cover cropping. | $68,800 |
N.E. Organic Farmers Assoc. | Advancing HSAP Priorities through Sustainable Land Management Education for Homeowners and Landscapers | NOFA/Mass will develop a soil health curriculum to educate homeowners, amateur landscapers, and land care professionals managing Developed Lands. Education activities on Recreational and Ornamental Landscapes will provide practical guidance and management strategies through turf best management practices, nutrient management, tree planting, and testing for soil organic carbon. These activities will result in ongoing soil health education to benefit homeowners, landscapers, and land care professionals through web-based support, events, webinars, and recordings. | $41,800 |
Berkshire Conservation District | No-Till Equipment program enhancement | Currently, renters of the Districts 12-foot no-till drill must have access to a 125-horsepower tractor to operate the 12-foot no-till drill – a bigger tractor than most small farms have access to. In addition, a vehicle rated for towing 9,000 pounds (without trailer brakes) is required to tow it to the field. Expanding adoption rate of no-till/reduced-till practices to the numerous small farms in the County is impossible given these obstacles. Compounding these equipment challenges, the Districts’ outreach and engagement efforts lack the necessary resources to be well attended and impactful. Of the farmers that we engaged with, most were unaware of the activities of the District and the relationship was cultivated through direct outreach by the soil health program coordinator. Without added capacity and resources to address these issues, engagement and participation in our programs will not grow. | $80,000 |
Hampden/Hampshire Conservation District | Building Healthy Soils Through Regenerative Practices | HHCD launched a Healthy Soils Program in 2023 that provides farmers with resources to implement regenerative agriculture practices, with the goal of building soil health on Massachusetts farmland to increase farm viability and climate resilience. HHCD will use funds provided through the Challenge Grant to sustain the success of the Healthy Soils Program, by adding no-till equipment to the rental program, providing free soil analysis to farmers and residents, conducting outreach events, and increasing staff capacity. | $80,000 |
UMASS Lowell | Urban Food Forests for Healthy Soils | Food forests (FF) are increasing in popularity in urban areas where they are being established on a variety of different soil types that are often highly degraded. UMasswill establish a FF on UMass Lowell’s campus. This site will act as a demonstration site for the development of a novel life cycle assessment framework for soil health that will be informed by continuous monitoring of soil health metrics as the site is established and develops. | $79,400 |
Hampshire College | Hampshire College Healthy Soils Initiative | This project aims to recognize BMPs within lawns for identifying the greatest rates of soil organic carbon. Research supports the assumption that turf lawns will persist in the state for the foreseeable future, and likely due to urbanization increase in total acreage. Therefore, the project will aim to show how with locally available resources and no specialized training, homeowners and municipalities can manage those spaces in ways which contribute to optimal soil health and rates of carbon sequestration. | $25,000 |
Franklin Conservation District | Healthy Soils through Innovative Equipment Development and Enhanced Outreach | FCD proposes to add a strip tiller – a much needed and innovative piece of equipment that will enable plastic free weed control in no-till farming – to the No-Till Equipment Rental Program in which we partner with Berkshire and Hampden-Hampshire Conservation Districts. Gideon Porth of Atlas Farm has researched and experimented with the device design and is ready to produce a strip tiller that will be owned by the district and available for rent to farmers. FCD will purchase the components for the strip tiller, and feature free soil analysis, no-till mentoring, and farm demonstration workshops. Porth will provide any mechanical servicing needed. | $75,000 |
Just Roots | No-till: Innovation and Demonstration on a Community Farm | Just Roots proposes implementation of a multi- pronged approach to meeting HSAP recommendations for promoting and demonstrating soil health and sustainable land practices. Through this project, Just Roots will (1) transition a one-acre field on our farm into no-till production, (2) expand pollinator-supporting perennial hedgerows on our farm, and (3) host public and by-invitation educational events to share this demonstration project, including a large-scale, farmer-to-farmer workshop. | $66,600 |
