Compost is the result of microbial decomposition of organic matter under controlled conditions. It is used to improve soil health, but it is important to note that lower quality composts can negatively impact crops and soils.
Spreading equipment is a key part of compost application, and can vary from operation to operation:
Selecting Compost:
Application timing:
Application Rates:
Typically 3-6 tons of moist compost applied per acre per year
Conservation tillage (CT) is an umbrella term for a method of land preparation that utilizes crop residue as mulch, leaving at least 30% of soil covered with previous crop residue at the time of planting. Types include no-tillage, strip-tillage, ridge-tillage, and mulch-tillage.
Implementing conservation tillage can take a considerable amount of planning and experimentation to create a management system that works for your farm. Materials can include:
Minimum Tillage:
Mulch-Tillage:
Strip-Tillage/Ridge Tillage:
No-Tillage/Direct Seeding:
Cover crops are a variety of grasses, legumes, and forbs planted for seasonal vegetative cover in agricultural operations. They are a primary fertility and soil management tool for soil health and ecosystem improvement.
Cover crops can be planted at multiple times throughout the year, though cover crops in California are often planted following fall harvest and decompose before spring planting. Cover crops can include a single species or a mix of grasses, legumes, and forbs; plant selection depends on your regional and site-specific climate and soil conditions. Materials can include the following:
Common cover crops:
Inoculent (for legumes only):
Planting equipment:
Timing:
Irrigation:
Cost:
Hedgerows are lines or groups of trees, shrubs, perennial forbs and grasses that are planted along roadways, fences, field edges, or other non-cropped areas.
Farm plans are helpful tools to partner with the establishment of hedgerows; key considerations include selecting hedgerow plants compatible with the soil, water, wind, and light conditions on farm or ranch. Aerial maps that can help assess the topography, hydrology, and crop/non-crop production areas are also useful.
Cover crops can be planted at multiple times throughout the year, though cover crops in California are often planted following fall harvest and decompose before spring planting. Cover crops can include a single species or a mix of grasses, legumes, and forbs; plant selection depends on your regional and site-specific climate and soil conditions. Materials can include the following:
Plants that tolerate standing water:
Perennial grasses that tolerate standing water:
Shrubs that do not tolerate standing water:
Perennial grasses that do not tolerate standing water:
Forbs that can handle some soil saturation:
Mulching is applying plant residues, compost, or wood chips to the land’s surface without incorporating it into the soil.
Cover cropping and conservation tillage can dovetail into use of intercrop crop residue as mulch in a low-input system that maximizes soil health and efficient use of resources.
Prescribed grazing is defined as the management of vegetation with grazing and/or browsing animals with the intent to achieve specific ecological, economic, and management objectives. Grazing management systems can vastly vary.
Before implementing prescribed grazing on the land that you steward, it is important to incorporate the following tools:
Note that the following is general criteria applicable to prescribed grazing.
Riparian forest buffers are habitat dominated by woody species established along a creek. Riparian forest buffers are meant to enhance riparian habitat by shading the body of water and protecting it from harmful runoff.
When planting riparian buffers, make sure to choose species that are well-adapted to the soil and climate conditions of your region. The following is a brief list of California native plants commonly planted for riparian buffers . For a longer list and more detailed instruction, see 'Additional Resources' on the following page.
Riparian Plant Species for Contra Costa County:
Site prep & planting:
Timing:
Spacing:
Maintenance:
Whole orchard recycling is the practice in which orchard trees are chipped and incorporated back into the soil at the end of their agronomic life cycle. The wood chips are incorporated back into the soil of the fields where the trees stood, which may be fallowed or continue agronomic production under minimally-tilled perennial crops.
Implementing whole orchard recycling is a process that depends heavily on machinery capable of uprooting mature orchard trees and roots. Materials can include:
The following information represents an abbreviated version of the process of whole orchard recycling:
Nutrient Use:
Windbreaks (and other wind barriers) are plantings of trees or shrubs meant to shelter and protect chosen areas from wind. Windbreaks can also be known as shelterbelts, and share many uses and benefits with hedgerows.
Farm plans are helpful tools to partner with the establishment of windbreaks; key considerations include selecting plants compatible with farm's ecological conditions. Aerial maps that can help assess the topography and hydrology are also useful.
When planting windbreaks, it is important to plant species that are well-adapted to the soil and climate conditions of your farm. The following is a brief list of California native plants commonly planted for windbreaks, shelterbelts, and hedgerows.
Trees:
Shrubs:
Skills: Permitting, conservation on agricultural land, illegal dumping prevention.
Fun Fact: Eagle Scout, former member of the University of California Marching Band, aspiring birder, and a Contra Costa native raised in Southern California.
Ben started working with Contra Costa RCD in January 2017 after receiving two Masters degrees from Indiana University in Natural Resource Management and Environmental Policy following undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley. Ben manages the Voluntary Local Program, the EcoStewards Program, and other conservation programs focused on agricultural lands.
Skills: Regenerative land management and community engagement.
Fun Fact: Student of life that nerds out on eco-cultural restoration, hangs out on hilltops, at home cruising in the Subaru, swimmer looking for water.
Actively pursuing opportunities for collaboration, Derek engages land managers, urban and rural farmers to identify strategies that balance immediate social needs with the long-term vitality of our ecological systems.
Raised in the East Bay, Derek’s professional experience includes non-profit work in urban forestry, environmental education, permaculture design, and community development through Peace Corps Nepal.
Graduating in 2010 with a BA in Environmental Studies: Sustainable Food Systems from UCSC, Derek holds an MA in Geography from CSULB 2020. His thesis research focused on the social drivers of riparian restoration on the working lands of the upper Tule River watershed of Tulare County, CA.
His current interests include identifying and showcasing farms demonstrating regenerative practices such as soil carbon sequestration, storm water infiltration, hedgerows, biodiversity enhancements, rematriation, and management for ecological flow regimes.
Derek’s vision of scaling up regenerative land management, agroecological resilience, and food justice includes embracing diversity with a holistic perspective on collective wellbeing.