Compost addition to Grasslands-Cost

Principal Investigator: Jeremy James

This project will be the first to demonstrate the use of food waste compost, and comparisons with livestock/green waste compost, on California rangelands.

Located at the Sierra Foothills Research and Extension Center (SFREC), the project builds on a compost greenhouse gas emission study funded by California’s 4th Assessment effort, allowing us to follow the full life cycle of the feed stocks.

We use a rigorous statistical design to document impacts of compost amendments on healthy soil indicators including soil carbon (C) and nitrogen cycling, C sequestration, forage production and quality, and water holding capacity, among others.

Our outreach and evaluation design supports a participatory action research framework that includes the formation of a stakeholder advisory committee that co-develops an annual field day and demonstration day, workshops, social media reports, and publication of technical and non-technical results.

Our work will build partnerships with diverse stakeholders. An added value of this work is the collaboration with the UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative which helps place this work in a larger context of climate change mitigation.