USDA awards $325 million to second round of climate-smart projects

The Biden administration will put $325 million into an additional 71 projects to develop climate-smart commodities and a money-making market for them, announced Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday. The initiative is part of President Biden's goal to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and for American agriculture to be first in the world to achieve net-zero emissions.

USDA has devoted $3.1 billion to its Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities, with the new funding going to 71 projects across the country. Republicans in Congress say the White House exceeded its authority in creating such a large program on its own, and some critics in the scientific community say more detail is needed to judge the value of the projects. The projects will run for up to five years.

"We believe, first and foremost, this is an opportunity for American agriculture and forestry to lead the world in climate-smart practices," said Vilsack, speaking at Tuskegee University in Alabama. "We believe this is going to create a competitive opportunity for us, not only here domestically, but also internationally. We think this is going to generate new income sources and new income opportunities for farmers, ranchers, producers, and forest landowners."

The $325 million was devoted to smaller-scale projects, with a ceiling of $5 million, emphasized the enrollment of small and under-served producers and work by minority-serving institutions to measure, monitor, report, and verify the results of climate-smart practices. Projects include a test of buffalo to mitigate global warming and to market buffalo meat as a climate-smart food.

"They are the original climate regulator," said Troy Heinert of the InterTribal Buffalo Council. Some 79 tribes with a total of 20,000 buffalo will take part in the project.

Vilsack said at least 60,000 farmers and more than 25 million acres would be involved in the projects, which could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 60,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

"We believe that this program will allow us to figure out what works and, frankly, what doesn't work," said Vilsack. "So we're possible through our monitoring, measuring, verification, and reporting to then steer and direct the resources that are now historically provided in the Inflation Reduction Act that was passed by Congress recently, that contains nearly $20 billion of commitment to additional conservation."

Climate change is likely to be a flashpoint for lawmakers in writing the new farm bill, due in 2023. The $20 billion is the only assured source of new funding for the farm bill at present. Senior Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee, including the incoming chairman, have questioned why climate change should receive preference.

Republicans also have bristled at the source of money for the climate-smart projects — a $30 billion reserve at USDA that also pays for crop subsidies. The climate-smart initiative was announced last February as a $1 billion program. Vilsack tripled the size of the program in September after USDA was deluged with proposals, all of which promised private-sector funding. "There are some amazing projects here," he said.

USDA summaries of projects in the second round of grants are available here.

The USDA home page for the climate-smart initiative is available here.