Carbon farming and other agricultural resilience projects in Marin and Sonoma Counties will receive as much as $10 million over five years from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service. The N.R.C.S.’s Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities, which awarded $2.8 billion to 70 projects in 30 states, requires matching funds from local organizations to develop practices that help mitigate climate change by increasing carbon capture and supporting sustainable agriculture. “By increasing soil organic matter by just 1 percent in our soils, we can not only sequester carbon to combat climate change, but we can also hold 20,000 more gallons of water per acre,” said Nancy Scolari, the executive director of the Marin Resource Conservation District. “That is water that can drain into aquifers, reservoirs, wetlands or be used to sustain food sources.” Marin and Sonoma are the only Bay Area counties to receive a grant from the program. In coming months, the N.R.C.S. will work closely with the beneficiaries—including the Carbon Cycle Institute, the U.C. Cooperative Extensions and the Marin Agricultural Land Trust—to identify how to manage and divide the funding. Ms. Scolari said Marin is likely to receive $2 to $3 million of the award, which will be matched by the county, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board and others. Sonoma, with its two resource conservation districts, spearheaded the application for the grant. The Marin R.C.D. has a list of around 60 producers interested in carbon farming through projects that address soil, wetland and riparian health and increase productivity and yield. This work will help the county achieve its carbon goals for 2030, Ms. Scolari said. The Marin County Climate Action Plan sets a countywide target of expanding carbon farm planning to 60 farms across 30,000 acres by 2030, and sequestering more than 55,000 metric tons of CO2 annually. The R.C.D. and its partners have already helped develop and implement 20 carbon plans on West Marin ranches to support healthy soils and carbon sequestration activities. Ms. Scolari said the work that will be funded with the N.R.C.S. grant will sequester over 25,000 metric tons of greenhouse gasses over a five-year period. The U.S.D.A. increased its initial $1 billion fund to $2.8 billion after receiving over 450 project proposals. A second round of grants will be announced later this year.