In the arid central and southern United States, compost is a gateway to the fundamentals of soil health and can catalyze the transition of farms and ranches away from chemically intensive and extractive production methods. It is also essential to the long-term success of community and school farms and gardens. While composting is a universally accessible activity, easy to understand, and bi-partisan, the arenas of on-farm and community compost (and the people who make it) have largely been overlooked in current climate change conversations, policies, and philanthropic programs. 

People, Food & Land has long supported composting in the agricultural sector. The Carbon Project focused on building connections between urban producers of food waste and rural agriculturalists to produce more compost. In 2019 PFL became the fiscal sponsor for the California Alliance for Community Composting in their successful application for the first-ever grant from the State of California. Securing and then distributing the $1.3M Community Composting for Green Spaces funds in an equitable manner to over 110 community compost sites (many of which are run by informal or underdeveloped organizations) required significant legal consultation, additional fundraising, and creative problem-solving over the three-year project. We support the many people who make soil throughout the state and are proud to support community composting in California.

The Community Composting for Green Spaces Grant was provided by CalRecycle. Additional capacity support was provided by 11th Hour and Open Road Alliance and the Hopewell Fund..