The Boulder County Soil Health Initiative provides grants to local agricultural producers who operate on leased Boulder County Park and Open Space (BCPOS) land, private land, or both.
Donor Name: Boulder County
State: Colorado
County: Boulder County (CO)
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 01/08/2025
Size of the Grant: $500,000 to $1 million
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
This initiative aims to improve soil health and promote a local, sustainable, and resilient food system.
The target audience is agricultural producers who farm or ranch on privately owned land or leased BCPOS agricultural property. The Boulder County Commissioners and county staff believe the power of partnership and consistency across departments elevate the impact and reach of this program. This focused and scaled approach to soil health incentivization is a key step towards systems-level change within Boulder County’s agricultural lands. The outcome of this grant program is a more climate-resilient, income-equitable, productive, and localized food system.
2025 Funding
$1 million is available for the 2025 BCSHI grant, and will be awarded based on how well applicants incorporate USDA’s principles to improve soil health, including:
- Increasing soil surface cover
- Increasing plant diversity
- Increasing livestock integration
- Minimizing soil and chemical disturbance
- Keeping a live root in the ground.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must have been operating a farm or ranch in Boulder County for at least two years.
- Applicants may only submit one application.
Eligible practices include but are not limited to:
- No- or reduced-tillage
- Utilizing cover crops
- Rotational grazing and/or crop rotation.
For more information, visit Boulder County.
