Policy for the Bioresources Economy
Reconnecting Soil Microbial and Human Communities
At PFL, we believe effective soil health policy should improve local health and drive economic repair. Since 2017 PFL has supported policies and organizations working to implement the buildout of the California bioresources economy.
By collaborating with grassroots activists nationwide to support healthy soil and compost policies, PFL seeks to develop new place-based and climate-beneficial economies surrounding organic material processing in California. These soil-based activities are stacked upon initiatives for land access, land rematriation, healthy soil policies, and the ongoing shift to agroecological farming as part of a diversified statewide economic development strategy.
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Healthy Soils Policy Map
The Healthy Soils Policy Map serves as a guide and connective network for soil health advocates and state legislators across the country. It shows the progressive adoption of state soil health policies since 2019 and provides details of those policies. This makes the map an “innovation showcase” on legislation across various agricultural economies and both red and blue states The map is the result of a collaboration with policy expert Steven Kielti, community organizer Isabelle Jennichs, and the volunteer organization Nerds for Earth.
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Rights to Organic Material Resources
Supporting localized organic materials rights and guaranteeing the first right of refusal to access and develop organic material resources for the communities from which these materials originate, could create new economic value for those communities, especially where soils have been the most heavily extracted by industrial forces. Materials that are commonly seen as “waste” must urgently be reclassified as valuable and necessary bioresources that belong to the community and returned to the soil and kept within healthy, biochemical cycling because of mounting pressure from the carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry and industrial biochar companies.