Climate-Smart Commodities Projects
Funding available through partnership grant programs
Below is a list of the 13 USDA Climate-Smart Commodities Projects available to Minnesota farmers. Each project has its own set of requirements. You will find a brief description of the projects in each of the drop-downs below as well as a link for more details and information on the application process.
Total Available Funding: $97.9 million
Project link: https://www.nfwf.org/programs/farmers-soil-health
Description: Accelerate long-term cover crop adoption by creating a platform to incentivize farmers. The platform will quantify, verify, and facilitate the sale of ecosystem benefits, creating a marketplace to generate demand for climate-smart commodities. Plans to support the implementation of more than 1 million acres of crops across 20 states.
Lead Partner: National Fish & Wildlife Founation
Additional Partners: Farmers for Soil Health (National Corn Growers Association, the United Soybean Board, and the National Pork Board), National Center for Appropriate Technology, National Association of Conservation Districts, Soil Health Institute, University of Missouri, The Sustainability Consortium, Data Transmission Network, MBSH Consulting
Total available funding: $35 million
Project link: https://www.porkcheckoff.org/pork-production-management/sustainability/advancing-us-pork-sustainability-grant/
Description: Advance climate-smart ag practices within the feed supply, maintaining market demand and price premiums.
Lead partner: National Pork Board
Additional partners: Nestle, Sustainable Environmental Consultants, Ducks Unlimited, Trust in Food (Farm Journal), Farm Credit Council, Millborn Seed, Nastrade
Total available funding: $157 million
Project link: https://www.theoutcomesfund.com/
Description: Build markets and provide funding to farmers via outcome-based contracts for the reduction and removal of carbon dioxide through the adoption of new climate-smart practices. The remaining project funding will support farmer enrollment assistance, carbon quantification, technical assistance support, MRV, and underserved farmer outreach. Plans to research and develop practice verification, technology infrastructure and distributed accounting system to measure and trace climate-smart corn through a closed supply chain.
Lead partner: Iowa Soybean Association
Additional partners: AgOutcomes, PepsiCo, Cargill, Renewable Energy Group, Ingredion, Target, JBS, Coca-Cola, FarmRaise, Rural Community Assistance Partnership
Total available funding: $126.5 million
Project link: https://www.trueterraag.com/USDA-Climate-SMART
Description: Catalyze a self-sustaining, market-based network to broaden farmer access, scale adoption of climate-smart practices, and produce commodities with verified and quantified climate benefits.
Lead partner: Truterra, LLC
Additional partners: Ag Gateway, Biofiltro, Continuum Ag, ESRI, Equilibrium Capital, Farmobile, FarmRaise, John Deere, La Crosse Seed, Macquarie, Microsoft, Northern Star Seed, Sound Ag, Strand Gard Stewardship, WinField United, American Farmland Trust, Black Family Land Trust, Farm Credit Council, Federation of Southern Cooperatives, Minorities in Ag, Natrl. Res. & Related Sciences, Soil Health Institute, Butcher Box, Campbell Soup, Green Plains, Hershey, Land O’Lakes Dairy Foods, Nestle Purina, Perdue, Primient, Tate & Lyle, Cloud Ag, Colorado State Univ., SustainCert & 50 ag retail coops, Venture37Services, UnitedStates, BiocharInitiative, OpenTEAM, Allied Soil HealthServices, Western NY Crop Management Association, Agriculural Consulting Services
Total available funding: $137.6 million
Project link: https://admadvantage.com/regen/programs/
Description: Incentive payments to thousands of producers to adopt and implement climate smart ag. Engagement of ADM’s 5,000 underserved producers to promote CSA opportunities, resulting in GHG reductions.
Lead partner: Archer-Daniels-Midland
Additional partners:Costco, DKY, EarthOptics, Farmers Business Network, Field to Market, Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District, Food Works Group, Iowa State University, Purdue University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Keurig-Dr. Pepper, Mid-America Biofuels (ADM Joint Venture), National Black Growers Council, Practical Farmers of Iowa, American Farmland Trust, Kansas Association of Conservation Districts, Ducks Unlimited
Total available funding: $104.3 million
Project link: https://www.nacdnet.org/about-nacd/what-we-do/climate-smart-commodities-project/
Description: Work through a network of 3,000 conservation districts to advance grassroots efforts to ensure producers and local communities are prepared to meet the demand and have access to climate-smart commodity markets.
Lead partner: National Association of Conservation Districts
Additional partners: Indian Nations Conservation Alliance (INCA), Rural Coalition, the Kansas Black Farmers Association, and the Rural Advancement Fund of the National Sharecroppers Fund, Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC), Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, HabiTerre, Cornell University Atkinson Center for Sustainability
Total available funding: $100.8 million
Project link: https://www.allianceforcsa.org/
Description: Build climate-smart markets for a variety of agricultural commodities and make adopting climate-smart agriculture and forestry practices more economically viable for producers.
Lead partner: VA Polytechnic Institute and State University
Additional partners: Arkansas Department of Agriculture, Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, North Dakota Farmers Union, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Arkansas Rice Federation, Agricultural Council of Arkansas, Minnesota Soil Health Coalition, Minnesota Farmers Union, Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Assoc., Natl. Assoc. of Conservation Districts, National Black Growers Council, Sustainable Food Lab, Environmental Initiative, and Supporters of Agricultural Research (SoAR)
Total available funding: $70 million
Project link: https://fieldtomarket.org/climate-smart-agriculture-innovative-finance-initiative/
Description: Innovative finance mechanisms to accelerate climate-smart practice uptake by farmers, leveraging private sector demand to strengthen markets. Partners will provide technical assistance and additional financial incentives to a diverse array of producers across a range of commodities, tying climate-smart practices to commodity purchases and creating a scalable model for private sector investment.
Lead partner: Field to Market
Additional partner: Akiptan & Intertribal Agriculture Council, Federation of Southern Cooperatives/ Land Assistance Fund, PepsiCo, Farmers Business Network, EDF, Archer Daniels Midland, Illinois Corn Growers Association, PCM, Illinois Corn Growers Association, Nutrien Ag Solutions, Growers Edge, Mondelēz, Michigan State University, Coop Elevator
Total available funding: $40.4 million
Project link: https://www.trustinfood.com/climate-smart-commodities/
Description: Expand climate-smart markets for many ag commodities and provide direct payments, technical assistance, and data management strategies to producers to adopt climate-smart practices and strategies.
Lead partner: Farm Journal
Additional partners: Tuskegee University, Association of Equipment Manufacturers, AGI/Farmobile, AgriWebb, Certis Biologicals, Ducks Unlimited, Farm Journal Foundation, National Pork Board, SIMPAS, The Sustainability Consortium, Trimble, U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, American Breeders Service (ABS), Merck Animal Health
Total available funding: $42 million
Project link: https://www.delongcompany.com/grown-climate-smart/
Description: Incentivizing Climate-Smart Growing Practices, expanding CSC markets and developing brand awareness. Use selected practices from NRCS to educate, train, incentivize, and measure farming practices that reduce GHG.
Lead partner: The DeLong Co., Inc.
Additional partners: Marquis Energy, Western New York Energy, Ingredion, Pioneer Pet, Granular Inc.(a Corteva Agriscience Company), Agris (Greenstone), Wisconsin Dept. of Agriculture, Rock County Ag Business Council, Heartland Business Systems, Wisconsin and Southern Railroad, The Artisan Grain Collaborative, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, Practical Farmers of Iowa
Total available funding: $24.5 million
Project link: https://tsip.org/
Description:
Build markets and streamline field data collection, and combine sample results with modeling, to make impact quantifications accurate and locally specific but also scalable. Targeted farms produce value-added and direct-to-consumer specialty crops as well as the 19 most common row crops in the U.S.
Lead partner: The Meridian Institute
Additional partners: The Soil Inventory Project, Corteva Agriscience, Jackson Family Wines, Cakebread Cellars, A to Z Wineworks, Medlock Ames, Ridge Vineyards, Hunt Country Vineyards, Silver Oak & Twomey Cellars, Spottswoode Estate and Vineyard & Winery, Crimson Wine Group, The Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming, Nature4Justice, Vayda
Total available funding: $46.3 million
Project link:
https://gevo.com/climate-smart-commodities/
Description: Critical structural market incentives for low carbon-intensity (CI) corn and accelerate the production of sustainable aviation fuel to reduce the sector’s dependency on fossil-based fuel. Includes an immediate market opportunity to sell climate-smart, low-climate-impact corn.
Lead partner: Gevo, Inc.
Additional partners: Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy, LLC, South Dakota State University, Yard Stick, Colorado State University, Iowa State University, Standing Rock (SAGE) Renewable Energy Power Authority
Total available funding: $4.9 million
Project link: https://www.ycncc-csc.com/
Description: Project participants would use basalt dust instead of agricultural lime to increase soil pH through a method known as Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW), which speeds up a natural carbon sequestration process.
Lead partner: Yale University
Additional partners: Georgia Inst. of Technology, Grodan, Agoro Carbon Alliance, Black Oaks Center, The Land Connection, Zumwalt Acres, Farm Foundation, Carolina Sunrock
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