Climate-Smart Commodities

The Congressional Western Caucus wants information regarding oversight of the Climate-Smart Commodities pilot program.  In a letter this week to the Biden administration, led by central Washington’s Dan Newhouse, as well as Maryland’s Andy Harris, the caucus outlined concerns regarding the program, which was created with no direction from Congress.  The lawmakers want ...

Last week Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced funding for climate-smart pilot projects under the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program.  American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said these projects are a positive step forward in recognizing farmers as partners.   “Secr...

The Climate-Smart agriculture partnerships funding announced last week has some environmental groups drawing criticism.  While welcomed by many in the food and agriculture sector, environmental group Friends of the Earth says some of the funding recipients are unacceptable. ...

The USDA announced last week, it will invest up to $2.8 billion in 70 selected projects under the first pool of funding for the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities opportunity.  Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack said farmers had a lot of input into developing the partnerships.  ...

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says the USDA is investing up to $2.8 billion in 70 selected projects under the first pool of the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities funding opportunity.  USDA’s initial investment of $1 billion is expected to triple to more than $3 billion in pilot projects that will create market opportunities for American commodities produced using climate-smart practices.  Thes

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. Under...

The Department of Agriculture says the first round of funding through the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities received more than 450 proposals ranging from $5 million to $100 million each. The deadline for the proposals closed on Friday ...

While it was just announced Monday, USDA’s $1 billion “Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities” is already generating lots of heat on Capitol Hill. Republican lawmakers told Undersecretary Robert Bonnie this week the USDA may be exceeding its authority in spending $1 billion in Commodity Credit Corporation money for climate-smart pilot projects. “The NRCS ...

On Monday, the USDA announced $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. ag ...