USDA overhauls 'climate-smart' agriculture program

: Agriculture, Emissions
25/04/17

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has begun to overhaul a program that for three years incentivized "climate-smart" practices to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through grants to farmers, ranchers and forest landowners.

USDA has cancelled the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities (PCSC), a program launched during former US president Joe Biden's administration, agency administrator Brooke Rollins said on Monday. Instead, the USDA has "reformed and overhauled" the program into the Advancing Markets for Producers (AMP) initiative.

According to the USDA, most of the projects under the Biden-era program "had sky-high administration fees" that resulted in considerably less federal funding being provided to farmers. The agency said it will review and potentially allow some projects to continue if they show that producers are receiving at least 65pc of federal funds.

"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," the agency said.

In addition, the USDA said it will review current projects based on whether recipients of PCSC grants had at least one enrolled producer and made a payment to at least one producer before the end of last year.

Any expenses incurred under the PCSC before this week's announcement will be honored, the agency said.

The PCSC, which the agency launched in February 2022, had the potential to increase supply in the voluntary carbon market. It was designed to help farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners use climate-smart practices such as those that help improve and maintain soil quality of forests, promote the use of cover crops, and encourage prescribed grazing. The program funded projects that created market opportunities for products produced through climate-smart practices and used cost-effective methods for tracking and verifying resulting reductions in GHG emissions.

The Biden-era program initially had funding amounting to $1bn before more than tripling to $3.5bn a few months after its launch.

But the USDA under US president Donald Trump appears to be downsizing that program, and it remains unclear how many projects will be permitted to continue.

The move is part of a broader effort by the new administration to review, reconsider and potentially roll back federal climate policies. The US Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing more than 30 Biden-era emissions and water regulations. In addition, the president issued an executive order last week directing the Department of Justice to review and potentially challenge state and local climate policies, calling out California's cap-and-trade program as one potential target.

By Ida Balakrishna

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25/05/22

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25/05/22

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25/05/21

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25/05/21

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