How One Sacramento-Area Farm Is Restoring Ecosystems While Growing Your School Lunch

Soil Born Farms in Rancho Cordova is operating at the intersection of two critical challenges: feeding our community and restoring degraded land. The 55-acre property along the American River has become a living demonstration that these goals aren’t competing—they’re complementary. Using regenerative agriculture practices like minimal soil disturbance, cover crops, compost, and native plant integration, the farm has transformed abandoned land covered in invasive weeds and trash into productive farmland while rebuilding habitat. Today, 150 documented bird species call the property home, along with thriving populations of reptiles, snakes, lizards, and hawks.

The food production numbers are striking. On just one acre, Soil Born produces 70% of the lettuce served in Sacramento City Unified School District lunch programs. That kind of yield from regeneratively-managed soil challenges the assumption that this approach sacrifices productivity for sustainability. UC Davis research backs this up, showing that California farmers have successfully practiced regenerative agriculture for 40 to 50 years, making it neither new nor economically unviable. The barrier to broader adoption has been cultural and habitual—conventional agriculture built on heavy tillage and chemical inputs created lock-in that many farmers never questioned, even as soil degradation and input costs accumulated.

California’s recent adoption of an official regenerative agriculture definition marks a policy shift toward outcomes-based farming: soil health, biodiversity, water conservation, and long-term viability. As more farms like Soil Born scale their approach, they generate proof of concept at different sizes. That momentum matters. When one successful model demonstrates you can feed local schools, restore river habitat, and maintain economic viability simultaneously, it changes what other farmers believe is possible. What would regenerative agriculture at scale look like across the Sacramento region?