Overwhelming Interest in USDA Climate-Smart Commodities Opportunity

The Department of Agriculture said the second funding pool through the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities opportunity received over 600 applications from over 400 groups.  While USDA is in the process of calculating the total requested amount for the second funding pool, the overall interest in the opportunity already exceeds more than $18 billion.

Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation, Robert Bonnie, said, “The results of the second funding pool clearly demonstrate the strong demand in the U.S. agriculture and forestry industry for solutions that expand markets for American producers."

The second funding pool, which closed June 10^th, included proposals from $250,000 to $5 million that emphasize the enrollment of small and/or underserved producers, and/or monitoring, reporting and verification activities developed at minority-serving institutions.  First-round proposals requested more than $18 billion and offered to match more than $8 billion in nonfederal dollars. The submissions are currently being reviewed, and selections are anticipated later this summer.

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