USDA Reboots Biden-Era Climate Program

OMAHA (DTN) -- USDA on Monday announced the department is repackaging the $3.1 billion Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities program with the 135 or so conservation programs continuing under a new name if grant recipients ensure the bulk of their funds flow to farmers.

USDA stated the Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities underwent a "thorough line by line review" of the individual contracts and, "It became clear that the majority of these projects had sky-high administration fees which in many instances provided less than half of the federal funding directly to farmers."

USDA stated projects will go forward if they "align the initiative with the current Trump Administration priorities."

USDA did not provide details on its review of the grants but stated the department's work led to the partnership being "reformed and overhauled" into a new program. With that, USDA will rename the Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities into the "Advancing Markets for Producers" (AMP).

USDA first created the Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities in 2022 with a focus on projects that promote commodities grown using practices that lower greenhouse-gas emissions or sequester carbon in the soil. The dashboard for the program remains on USDA's website, showing projects involved 102 commodities and 198 different farm practices.

When USDA initially announced the pilot project in 2022, it was going to be $1 billion, but the partnership then drew 450 project applications. The department then tripled the funding for it.

The partnership was meant as a pilot to show what practices can lower emissions but also help farmers either draw a market premium or enroll in a carbon market as well. The funding drew praise from farm groups that had coalesced under the Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA). Republicans in Congress criticized USDA for using Commodity Credit Corp. (CCC) funds to focus on a climate program.

As of last June, a progress report on the partnership detailed the collective grants had enrolled more than 14,000 farmers and 3.2 million acres of working lands. The goal of the Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities was to enroll more than 60,000 farmers and 25 million acres of working lands to sequester more than 60 million metric tons (mmt) of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Under the AMP, USDA will review existing grant agreements based on three priorities: a minimum of 65% of the federal funds must go to producers; grant recipients must have enrolled at least one farmer and made at least one payment to a producer before the end of the 2024 calendar year.

"Select projects may continue if it is demonstrated that a significant amount of the federal funds awarded will go to farmers," USDA stated. The news release added, "We continue to support farmers and encourage partners to ensure their projects are farmer focused or re-apply to continue work that is aligned with the priorities of this Administration. With this action, USDA is cutting bureaucratic red tape, streamlining reporting, lowering the paperwork burden on producers and putting farmers first."

USDA will contact current partners in the program to provide more information about future participation. USDA also will honor expenses incurred before April 13, 2025. "This reform effort will utilize existing funding, with no new funding made available for these partnerships," USDA stated.

USDA froze funding under the program when the Trump administration took office in late January.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has made it clear she does not support programs focused on climate change. Rollins reiterated her stance in the news release Monday.

"The Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative was largely built to advance the green new scam at the benefit of NGOs, not American farmers," Rollins said. "The concerns of farmers took a backseat during the Biden Administration. During my short time as Secretary, I have heard directly from our farmers that many of the USDA partnerships are overburdened by red tape, have ambiguous goals, and require complex reporting that push farmers onto the sidelines. We are correcting these mistakes and redirecting our efforts to set our farmers up for an unprecedented era of prosperity."

Robert Bonnie, USDA's undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) in the Biden administration, said his read on USDA's announcement Monday is that the Trump administration largely left the program intact with a new name. Bonnie said USDA had already placed a high priority on ensuring the bulk of funds went to producers, though some of the smaller projects may have had higher overhead costs when they began.

"I'd be very surprised if the vast majority of our projects don't meet the new requirements," Bonnie said. He added, "So my initial read is that Secretary Rollins heard from producers about how popular this program is, and they were looking for a face-saving way out and this is what they did."

Sam Kieffer, vice president of public policy for the American Farm Bureau Federation, said the group has long supported the goals of voluntary, market-driven programs that support farmers and ranchers while helping protect natural resources.

"We are just learning of USDA's decision and will assess the impact of these changes on growers," Kieffer said. "We are grateful the administration is focused on being there and delivering for farmers and ranchers. We also urge USDA to honor contracts already signed where farmers and farmer-led organizations may have already made investments and paid for supplies or services based on the assumption they would be reimbursed by this grant program."

Note: DTN is part of one of the Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities projects, "Farmers for Soil Health," which is focused on increasing long-term cover crop adoption and creating a marketplace to generate demand for climate-smart commodities. The partnership involves farmers in at least 19 states who grow corn and soybeans. Other participants in the project include the National Corn Growers Association, United Soybean Board, National Pork Board, National Center for Appropriate Technology, National Association of Conservation Districts, Soil Health Institute and The Walton Family Foundation. The project is led by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation.

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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