Increasing organic matters levels in the soil, through farming practices such as growing cover crops, not only benefits the soil and food crops but sequesters carbon and retains moisture. So said CFAES scientist Rattan Lal in a June 6 story by the Water Deeply media project, which is covering California’s drought. Sequestering carbon helps fight climate change; retaining moisture helps against drought. Lal is a Distinguished University Professor of soil science in CFAES’s School of Environment and Natural Resources. “The health of the soil, plants, animals, people and ecosystems,” he said at the end of the story, “are interdependent, interconnected and indivisible.”