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Soil Carbon Monitoring Agreements - Fiscal Year 2023

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $8 million in four partnerships to support and expand measurement and monitoring of carbon in soil on working agricultural lands and to assess how climate-smart practices are affecting carbon sequestration. 

What is soil carbon monitoring?

The selected partners will support implementation of a new Conservation Evaluation and Monitoring Activity (CEMA) offered by NRCS, which provides financial assistance to producers for measuring soil organic carbon stocks before and after the implementation of a conservation practice or conservation plan. A qualified individual will use a hydraulic probe or excavation method to sample soil to one meter depth or restrictive layer.  The soil will then be tested for organic carbon and bulk density to provide organic carbon stock levels to farmers and ranchers. These partners will play a critical role in training individuals on the sampling methodology and informing producers about the CEMA opportunity. 


Fiscal Year 2023 Soil Carbon Monitoring Cooperative Agreements

Organization Point of Contact Email Project Title Project Summary Funding Amount Geographic Reach
American Climate Partners Michael Collins mike@americanclimatepartners.org Southeast Region Deep Soil Carbon Stock Partnership and Monitoring Project This $2 million four-year project will increase soil carbon stock monitoring through a public-private partnership of American Climate Partners; land-grant universities and their extension services; Carter Farms; LLC in Virginia and other organizations providing technical assistance to underserved communities. The goal is to train producers on how to monitor the effects of climate-smart practices on soil carbon sequestration and the benefits of these practices. $2000000 Southeast Region
Iowa State University for Science and Technology Amanda Redling egrants@iastate.edu Know Your Carbon Landscape: Data for Consistent Monitoring of Soil Carbon This $1.99 million four-year project will be conducted by an eclectic team of university educators; USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) researchers and stakeholders who will design materials and deliver training on NRCS’s Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) Stock Measurement standards and the benefits of monitoring SOC stocks using a three-prong approach: website; printed materials and field demonstration sites.  $1996993 Central Region
Michigan State University Nathan Umlor umlornat@msu.edu Soil Carbon IDEA: Inclusion; Diversity; Equity and Access in highly diverse cropping systems and people in the Northeast US The objective of this $1.95 million four-year project is to develop comprehensive training in SOC evaluation for diverse groups of farmers; agronomists and agribusiness professionals. The training will include field-days; bulletins; videos; a podcast and a film documentary.  $1952324 Northeast Region
University of Texas at El Paso Emeralda Zazueta orspra@utep.edu Dynamic Carbon SMART (Soil Monitoring; Assessment; Research; and Training) Project This $2 million; four-year project will train producers to quantify soil carbon stocks and assess the efficacy of climate-smart conservation practices. The project will facilitate regional capacity-building by recruiting and training local technical service providers and qualified individuals who can effectively recruit underserved producers to participate in NRCS financial and technical assistance for Soil Organic Carbon Stock Monitoring. $2000000 West Region