CDFA Healthy Soils Program Demonstration Project – Chorro Creek Ranch
A project page from the Coastal San Luis Resource Conservation District (CSLRCD) describing a CDFA Healthy Soils Program Demonstration trial launched in 2020 at Cal Poly’s Chorro Creek Ranch. The project, conducted in partnership with Cal Poly State University, is a replicated field trial testing four combinations of compost application and tillage intensity (conventional vs. […]
Conducting Research on Your Own Farm | Farmer-Led Experiments & Innovation
A YouTube video (published February 25, 2025) focused on how farmers can structure on-farm trials and experiments to generate reliable, actionable results — framing farmers as natural innovators and problem-solvers.
Communicating the Beneficial Effects of Soil Health Practices: Yagi Sisters Farm Soil Data Summary 2023
A one-page UC Cooperative Extension handout authored by UCCE Advisor Ellie Andrews, presenting 2023 soil fertility, microbial, and structural assessment data from Yagi Sisters Farm with permission from Reyna Yagi. Includes results from Dellavalle Labs (soil fertility), Ward Labs (microbial biomass and diversity index), bulk density measurements, and water infiltration rates across multiple farm blocks […]
Rangeland Monitoring Network: A Decade of Shared Stewardship and Monitoring on California’s Rangelands
An interactive ArcGIS StoryMap documenting ten years of Point Blue Conservation Science’s Rangeland Monitoring Network (RMN), a collaborative program tracking birds, plants, and soils across 145 ranches in 28 California counties since 2014. Presents findings on how a warming, drying climate is affecting soil carbon in rangelands, and outlines next steps for understanding how management […]
Interview with Molly Taylor on Cover Crops
A blog interview with PT Ranch manager Molly Taylor covering the ranch’s adoption of cover crops starting in 2020, including the specific species used (turnips, clovers, collard greens, oats, rye), their no-till approach, integration with cattle grazing, benefits to soil health and drought resilience, and how California’s Healthy Soils Incentive Program and carbon credit markets […]
From the Orchard: Rich Gemperle Applies Hydrogeology Expertise to Farming
A Q&A profile of Rich Gemperle of Gemperle Family Farms in Turlock, a second-generation almond grower with a background as a hydrologic engineer. Gemperle discusses how his hydrogeology training informs a science-driven, trial-based approach to sustainable farming — including a long-running compost program using poultry manure from the family’s egg operation, cover cropping and hedgerow […]
From Pilots to Big Bold Visions: Rapid Scaling of Carbon Farming in Santa Barbara County
A panel presentation slide deck from August 2017 prepared for the Central Coast Climate Collaborative, featuring Russell Chamberlin (Ted Chamberlin Ranch), Anna Olsen (Cachuma Resource Conservation District), Emily Miller (Community Environmental Council), Sharyn Main (Santa Barbara Foundation), and Aeron Arlin Genet (Santa Barbara County APCD). The presentation covers the science of carbon farming, results from […]
The Amazing Ability of Pasture Grass to Sequester Carbon: Carbon Ranching at the Ted Chamberlin Ranch
A Santa Barbara Independent cover story by Jean Yamamura examining carbon ranching at the Ted Chamberlin Ranch, where a 60-acre CDFA Healthy Soils Initiative demonstration project uses compost application to increase topsoil, enhance soil microbiology, boost forage production, improve water retention, and sequester carbon in deep grass roots — with results showing a 16% increase […]
Greening the Ranch and Feeding the People: Regenerative Agriculture at the Ted Chamberlin Ranch
A Bluedot Living article by Jim Miller profiling Russell Chamberlin and Mary Heyden, who co-manage the Ted Chamberlin Ranch, describing their incremental adoption of regenerative agriculture practices — including more frequent rotational grazing, compost application, prescribed burns, and direct-to-consumer beef sales — and the environmental and economic tradeoffs involved in transitioning an 8,000-acre cattle ranch […]
Burroughs Family Farms: Integrating Pastured Poultry with Dairy, Almonds, and Olives
A video in which Ward Burroughs describes the integration (“stacking”) of pastured chickens with the farm’s other enterprises — chickens following cows in dairy pastures and grazing in almond and olive orchards during winter — illustrating how enterprise stacking enhances soil fertility and overall farm resilience