Ag
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csceagle.com | The Eagle | Feb. 10, 2022
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Photo by Kamryn Kozisek
A trio of Longhorn cattle eat off of a hay bale on a ranch east of Chadron. The USDA is taking projects for agricultural producers to be climate-smart.
USDA announces $1 billion to climate-smart ag u By Kamryn Kozisek Ag and Range Editor
On Feb. 7, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the USDA will be investing $1 billion to support climate-smart agriculture for landowners across the U.S. Funded by Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities, applications for pilot projects is open now for 2022 fiscal year. A USDA press release defined climate smart commodities 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 used on each practice to apply techniques to working land, measure greenhouse gases benefits and promote resulting commodities. Applications cannot be done for individuals, but instead are for entities. Entities that can apply include county, city, state, special and Native American governments, private, state and public
higher education institutions, Native American tribal organizations, profit organizations, nonprofits that have a 501 (c)(3) and those that don’t. Each proposal needs to contain plans for implementing largescale climate-smart agriculture and involves historically underserved populations, monitor and report climate results, promote climate-smart commodities and help to develop markets for those commodities. There are two funding pools one for proposals between $5-100 million due April 8 and one for
proposals for $250,000-4.9 million due May 27. Proposals can be found on Grants.gov. There are two funding pools one for proposals between $5-100 million due April 8 and one for proposals for $250,000-4.9 million due May 27. Proposals can be found on Grants.gov. More information is available on the USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities at https://www.usda. gov/climate-solutions/climate-smart-commodities. “America’s farmers, ranchers, and forest owners are lead-
ing the way in implementing climate-smart solutions across their operations,” Vilsack said in a USDA press relesase. “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.
