USDA to Fund Climate Projects
Published: Friday, February 11, 2022
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture is delivering on its promise to expand markets by investing $1 billion in partnerships to support America's climate-smart farmers, ranchers and forest landowners. The new Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities opportunity will finance pilot projects that create market opportunities for U.S. agricultural and forestry products that use climate-smart practices and include innovative, cost-effective ways to measure and verify greenhouse gas benefits.
USDA is now accepting project applications for fiscal year 2022.
For the purposes of this funding opportunity, a climate-smart commodity is defined as an agricultural commodity that is produced using agricultural (farming, ranching or forestry) practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or sequester carbon.
Funding will be provided to partners through the USDA's Commodity Credit Corp. for pilot projects to provide incentives to producers and landowners to:
• Implement climate-smart production practices, activities, and systems on working lands.
• Measure/quantify, monitor and verify the carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) benefits associated with those practices.
• Develop markets and promote the resulting climate-smart commodities.
The primary applicant must be an entity, not an individual. A range of public and private entities may apply, including county, city or township governments, private institutions of higher education, state governments and for profit organizations including small businesses.
Funding will be provided in two funding pools, and applicants must submit their applications via Grants.gov (https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants. April 8 for the first funding pool (proposals from $5 million to $100 million), and May 27 for the second funding pool (proposals from $250,000 to $4,999,999).
Proposals must provide plans to:
• Pilot implementation of climate-smart agriculture and/or forestry practices on a large-scale, including meaningful involvement of small and/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.
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