December 2022 – Did you know Yolo Land Trust (YLT) owns their own farm? YLT is proud to be a Yolo County landowner. In 2009, YLT purchased 666 acres of farmland from the Sacramento Valley Conservancy (SVC). The Elkhorn Farm in West Sacramento was originally planted primarily in walnut orchards, but is now a diverse and changing mix of row crops, habitat and pasture land under an agricultural conservation easement held by SVC.
As a landowner, YLT gains first-hand knowledge of the issues and impacts local farmers face day-in and day-out trying to achieve a profitable harvest season to season. By actively managing the farming operations through an agriculture lease agreement with a local farmer, YLT is both participating in and supporting the thriving Yolo County agriculture economy while conserving prime farmland to stay in agriculture productivity for perpetuity.
“The ownership of the Elkhorn Farm has provided Yolo Land Trust with a unique perspective for a land trust. Most land trusts just hold conservation easements. With Elkhorn, YLT shares with our tenant the vagaries of commodity prices, the threat of unpredictable weather, and the on-going regulations governing the farming operation” said Liz Heckles, YLT’s Land Stewardship Director. “At the same time, I am coordinating the annual monitoring visit with SVC and understand their role in conserving the farmland.”
In December 2021, Yolo Land Trust was awarded a $200,000 State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP) grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to invest in irrigation improvements on our 220-acre parcel, known as Welfare Ranch, which is on a portion of YLT’s Elkhorn Farm. YLT, in partnership with our ag tenant, executed the grant agreement and began implementing these irrigation improvements in July 2022. We want to share with you more details on this exciting and impactful project. These critical funds not only allow YLT to better steward the land by conserving water resources, but they also provide our ag tenant with improved efficiencies and flexibility to farm a more profitable crop.
SWEEP was created to provide financial incentives for California agriculture operations to invest in irrigation systems that save water and reduce greenhouse gas emission. Projects can utilize SWEEP funds for eligible irrigation system components such as (among others) soil moisture monitoring, drip systems, switching to low pressure irrigation systems, pump retrofits, variable frequency drives to reduce on-farm water use and installation of renewable energy sources or conversion to cleaner energy sources to lower energy use and decrease greenhouse gas emission.
The CDFA’s SWEEP solicitation in 2021 secured $50M in funds for statewide applicants, eventually awarding 282 grants to farming entities across California ranging in size from $11K to the maximum award of $200K. Of these 282 projects funded in 2021, only three were awarded to farms in Yolo County. At present, CDFA has funded 1,130 projects since starting SWEEP in 2014. These projects cover over 168,000 acres and have been awarded $123 million to date, with more than $70 million in matching funds contributed by awardees. SWEEP projects completed to date have saved 47.1 billion gallons of water per year; enough to fill over 73,000 Olympic-size swimming pools.
Currently, YLT’s Elkhorn Farm is comprised of rotational row crops (517 acres), sheep grazing land (92 acres), and riparian habitat (approx. 50 acres). The Welfare Ranch portion of the farm has not always been exclusively row crops; before YLT’s purchase in 2009 and through 2017 a portion had been planted in walnut orchards. Following the Oroville Dam crisis in February 2017, seepage water from prolonged containment in the Yolo Basin nearby devastated the Welfare Ranch’s walnut trees. YLT made the hard decision to remove the mature walnut trees in 2018 and pivot entirely to row crop farming.
Significant changes needed to be made to Welfare Ranch to facilitate this transition to row crop farming. YLT is committed to ensuring the highest land conservation practices are carried out on our farm, and have been slowly making improvements to the existing irrigation system on the farm to better manage water resources. SWEEP was identified as a source of financial assistance to more swiftly make the necessary irrigation system improvements needed on Welfare Ranch. Partnering with the current ag tenant and a professional irrigation company, YLT submitted a project proposal to SWEEP that involved two key components – converting the diesel pump on the agricultural well to an electric pump to provide a cleaner energy source, and transitioning from furrow irrigation methods to a drip irrigation system designed specifically for row crops.
The new drip irrigation system will allow improved control over timing and quantity of water delivered to the row crops, providing a means for both an increase in water conservation and crop productivity. Additionally, a sand media filtration system, will be installed to allow for improved water quality of the area irrigated. The new electric pump will incorporate a variable frequency drive (VFD) and flowmeter. Conversion to a lower horsepower, more efficient electric pump that can easily accommodate the requirements of irrigating the row crops contributes to lower overall greenhouse gas emissions when compared to the use of existing diesel pump.
Since this July, YLT has made significant progress on the project – the main pipes, valves and fittings for the 2-set drip irrigation system have been laid out and buried; the old diesel pump has been removed, the well has been scrubbed, and a new earthen pad for the pump upgrades and filtration system has been created; and the new electric panel is installed and awaiting tie-in from PG&E for electric services. YLT has been approved by CDFA to receive $83K of its $200K grant, but there is quite a bit of work left to do using the remaining grant funds.
SWEEP gives grant recipients up to 24 months to complete their project, and YLT hopes to have the project finished by the time irrigation activities start in early summer 2023. Once the project is complete in the coming months, YLT will be required to report back to the CDFA with data describing on-farm energy and water use for three years. This data will provide clear insight into the impact the irrigation improvements are having on water conservation and the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the switch to an electric pump.
Informing our supporters of the active projects YLT manages throughout the year is of utmost importance to provide transparency on the valuable work YLT is doing to prioritize farmland conservation. We want you, our supporters, to know that each day YLT builds collaborative partnerships and advocates for local farmers. Receiving this grant award demonstrates the commitment YLT has to staying closely connected with the agriculture heritage of our community, to stewarding the working lands that keep Yolo County’s prospering agriculture economy alive, and protecting the valuable land resources that will allow farmers to continue farming.
