Sustainable farms grants

AN ACT Relating to the sustainable farms and fields grant 1
program; and amending RCW 89.08.615, 89.08.620, and 89.08.630.2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:3
Sec. 1. RCW 89.08.615 and 2022 c 180 s 501 are each amended to 4
read as follows: 5
(1) The commission shall develop a sustainable farms and fields 6
grant program in consultation with the department of agriculture, 7
Washington State University, and the United States department of 8
agriculture natural resources conservation service.9
(2) As funding allows, the commission shall distribute funds, as 10
appropriate, to conservation districts and other public entities to 11
help implement the projects approved by the commission.12
(3) No more than 15 percent of the funds may be used by the 13
commission to develop, or to consult or contract with private or 14
public entities, such as universities or conservation districts, to 15
develop: 16
(a) An educational public awareness campaign and outreach about 17
the sustainable farm and field program; or 18
(b) The grant program, including the production of analytical 19
tools, measurement estimation and verification methods, cost-benefit 20
measurements, and public reporting methods. 21
S-0692.1
SENATE BILL 5391
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Senators Shewmake, Krishnadasan, Nobles, Saldaña, and Valdez
Read first time 01/21/25. Referred to Committee on Agriculture &
Natural Resources.
p. 1 SB 5391
(4) No more than five percent of the funds may be used by the 1
commission to cover the administrative costs of the program.2
(5) No more than 20 percent of the funds may be awarded to any 3
single grant applicant. 4
(6) Allowable uses of grant funds include: 5
(a) Annual payments to enrolled participants for successfully 6
delivered carbon storage or reduction; 7
(b) Up-front payments for contracted carbon storage;8
(c) Down payments on equipment; 9
(d) Purchases of equipment; 10
(e) Purchase of seed, seedlings, spores, animal feed, and 11
amendments; 12
(f) Services to landowners, such as the development of site-13
specific conservation plans to increase soil organic levels or to 14
increase usage of precision agricultural practices, or design and 15
implementation of best management practices to reduce livestock 16
emissions; 17
(g) ((The purchase of compost spreading equipment, or financial 18
assistance to farmers to purchase compost spreading equipment, for 19
the annual use for at least three years of volumes of compost 20
determined by the commission to be significant from materials 21
composted at a site that is not owned or operated by the farmer;22
(h))) Scientific studies to evaluate and quantify the greenhouse 23
gas emissions avoided as a result of using crop residues as a biofuel 24
feedstock or to identify management practices that increase the 25
greenhouse gas emissions avoided as a result of using crop residues 26
as a biofuel feedstock; 27
(((i))) (h) Efforts to support the farm use of anaerobic digester 28
digestate, including scientific studies, education and outreach to 29
farmers, and the purchase or lease of digestate spreading equipment; 30
and 31
(((j))) (i) Other equipment purchases or financial assistance 32
deemed appropriate by the commission to fulfill the intent of RCW 33
89.08.610 through 89.08.635. 34
(7) Grant applications are eligible for costs associated with 35
technical assistance. 36
(8) Conservation districts and other public entities may apply 37
for a single grant from the commission that serves multiple farmers.38
(9) Grant applicants may apply to share equipment purchased with 39
grant funds. Applicants for equipment purchase grants issued under 40
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this grant program may be farm, ranch, or aquaculture operations 1
coordinating as individual businesses or as formal cooperative 2
ventures serving farm, ranch, or aquaculture operations. Conservation 3
districts, separately or jointly, may also apply for grant funds to 4
operate an equipment sharing program. 5
(10) No contract for carbon storage or changes to management 6
practices may exceed 25 years. Grant contracts that include up-front 7
payments for future benefits must be conditioned to include penalties 8
for default due to negligence on the part of the recipient.9
(11) The commission shall attempt to achieve a geographically 10
fair distribution of funds across a broad group of crop types, soil 11
management practices, and farm sizes. 12
(12) Any applications involving state lands leased from the 13
department of natural resources must include the department's 14
approval. 15
Sec. 2. RCW 89.08.620 and 2021 c 278 s 9 are each amended to 16
read as follows: 17
(1) When prioritizing grant recipients, the commission, in 18
consultation with the department of agriculture, Washington State 19
University, the department of fish and wildlife, and the United 20
States department of agriculture natural resources conservation 21
service, shall seek to maximize the benefits of the grant program by 22
leveraging other state, nonstate, public, and private sources of 23
money. The primary metrics used to rank grant applications must be 24
made public by the commission. 25
(2) The grant program must prioritize or weight projects based on 26
consideration of the individual project's ability to:27
(a) Increase the quantity of organic carbon in topsoil through 28
practices including, but not limited to, cover cropping, no-till and 29
minimum tillage conservation practices, crop rotations, manure 30
application, biochar application, compost application, and changes in 31
grazing management; 32
(b) Increase the quantity of organic carbon in aquatic soils;33
(c) Intentionally integrate trees, shrubs, seaweed, or other 34
vegetation into management of agricultural and aquacultural lands, 35
with preference for native vegetation where practicable and 36
appropriate; 37
(d) Reduce or avoid carbon dioxide equivalent emissions in or 38
from soils; 39
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(e) Reduce nitrous oxide and methane emissions through changes to 1
livestock or soil management; ((and))2
(f) Reduce or avoid carbon dioxide equivalent emissions through 3
increased energy efficiency or reduced fuel use; and4
(g) Increase usage of precision agricultural practices.5
(3) The commission shall develop and approve a prioritization 6
metric to guide the distribution of funds appropriated by the 7
legislature for this purpose, with the goal of producing cost-8
effective carbon dioxide equivalent impact benefits.9
(4) Applicants that create riparian buffers along waterways, or 10
otherwise benefit fish habitat, must receive an enhanced 11
prioritization compared to other grant applications that perform 12
similarly under the prioritization metrics developed by the 13
commission. 14
(5)(a) Applicants that create or maintain pollinator habitat must 15
receive an enhanced prioritization compared to other grant 16
applications that perform similarly under the prioritization metrics 17
developed by the commission. 18
(b) For the purposes of this subsection, "pollinator habitat" 19
means an area of land that is or may be developed as habitat 20
beneficial for the feeding, nesting, and reproduction of all 21
pollinators, including honey bees, as determined by the department of 22
agriculture. 23
(6) The commission shall downgrade a specific grant proposal 24
within its prioritization metric if the proposal is expected to cause 25
significant environmental damage to fish and wildlife habitat.26
Sec. 3. RCW 89.08.630 and 2020 c 351 s 6 are each amended to 27
read as follows: 28
(1) By October 15, 2021, and every two years thereafter, the 29
commission shall report to the legislature and the governor on the 30
performance of the sustainable farms and fields grant program.31
(2) The commission shall update at least annually a public list 32
of projects and pertinent information including a summary of state 33
and federal funds, private funds spent, landowner and other private 34
cost-share matching expenditures, the total number of projects, and 35
an estimate of carbon sequestered or carbon emissions reduced.36
(3) ((By July 1, 2024 )) Before implementing upfront payments for 37
carbon storage, the commission, in consultation with Washington State 38
University and the University of Washington, must evaluate and update 39
p. 4 SB 5391
the most appropriate carbon equivalency metric to apply to the 1
sustainable farms and fields grant program. Until this equivalency is 2
updated by the commission, or unless the commission identifies a 3
better metric, the commission must initially use a one hundred year 4
storage equivalency that can be linearly annualized to recognize the 5
storage of carbon on an annual basis based on the storage of 3.67 6
tons of biogenic carbon for one hundred years being assigned a value 7
equal to avoiding one ton of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.8
(4) The grant recipient and other private cost-sharing 9
participants may at their own discretion allow their business or 10
other name to be listed on the public report produced by the 11
commission. All grant recipients must allow anonymized information 12
about the full funding of their project to be made available for 13
public reporting purposes. 14
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