USDA to invest $1B in climate-smart commodities

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will invest $1 billion in partnerships to support America’s climate-safe farmers, ranchers and forest landowners.

Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities will finance pilot projects that devise market opportunities for U.S. agricultural and forestry products that use climate-safe practices and innovative, cost-effective methods to measure and verify greenhouse gas benefits.

“America’s farmers, ranchers and forest owners are leading the way in implementing climate-smart solutions across their operations,” says Tom Vilsack, secretary of agriculture. “Through Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities, USDA will provide targeted funding to meet national and global demand and expand market opportunities for climate-smart commodities to increase the competitive advantage of American producers. We want a broad array of agriculture and forestry to see themselves in this effort, including small and historically underserved producers as well as early adopters.”

USDA defines a climate-smart commodity as an agricultural commodity that is produced using farming, ranching or forestry practices that decrease greenhouse gas emissions or carbon.

Funding will be administered to partners via the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation for pilot projects to provide incentives to producers and landowners to implement climate-smart production, activities and systems on working lands; measure/quantify, monitor and verify the carbon and greenhouse gas benefits tied to those practices; and create markets and promote the resulting climate-smart commodities.

The USDA is accepting climate-smart commodity project applications for 2022. The primary applicant has to be a public or private entity as opposed to an individual. The following entities may apply:

• County, city or township governments
• Special district governments
• State governments
• Small businesses
• For-profit organizations other than small businesses
• Native American tribal governments (federally recognized)
• Native American tribal organizations (other than federally recognized tribal governments)
• Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) (other than institutions of higher education)
• Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) (other than institutions of higher education)
• Private institutions of higher education
• Public and state-controlled institutions of higher education

Funding will be broken up into two funding pools. Applicants must submit applications through grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on April 8 for the first funding pool for proposals from $5 million to $100 million and May 27 for the second funding pool for proposals from $250,000-$4,999,999.

Proposals must provide plans to

• Pilot implementation of climate-smart agriculture or forestry practices on a large-scale, including meaningful involvement of small or historically underserved producers.
• Quantify, monitor, report and verify climate results.
• Develop markets and promote climate-smart commodities generated as a result of project activities.