53: Producing Compost and Carbon Sequestration

This podcast is a recording from a workshop we co-costed on soil health. As part of California Climate Investments, the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s (CDFA) Healthy Soils Program distributed $5.8 million in cap and trade funds in 2018 to farming and ranching operations for the implementation of soil health practices that sequester carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This workshop brought together our team of researchers and growers from Cal Poly, the Vineyard Team, J. Lohr Vineyard, and Tablas Creek Vineyard to talk about their Demonstration Project grant from the Healthy Soils Program to demonstrate the benefits of compost application and no-till practices for vineyard operations.

The first of our two recordings is with Kevin Piper, Director of Agricultural Operations, California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo. Kevin describes the composting operation at Cal Poly SLO and all the factors that go into producing high-quality compost with the materials from Cal Poly’s farming operations.

Our second speaker is Dr. Charlotte Decock, Assistant Professor Cal Poly - Earth & Soil Sciences. Charlotte talks about soil management with the goal of capturing greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere and sequestering them in the soil. Her teaching and research focus on sustainable fertilizer and soil management in California’s specialty crops.