The U.S. Department of Agriculture is cancelling the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Project. The $3 billion initiative funded agriculture research and programs across the nation.
Over $1.2 billion went toward 36 programs that involve Missouri. Many of these programs offered incentive payments to farmers who adopt an environmentally sustainable or “climate-smart” practice.
Grants were awarded to farmer-led groups and nonprofits, universities and some agriculture industry big names like Cargill and Edge Dairy.
In an announcement Monday afternoon, the USDA said the program funded projects with “sky-high administration fees” and little money going to farmers.
“The concerns of farmers took a backseat during the Biden Administration,” said USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins.
Some partnerships will be renewed and folded into a new program called the Advancing Markets for Producers initiative. It will prioritize projects that give at least 65% of federal funds to producers and that have enrolled and paid at least one producer before the end of last year.
The MU Center for Regenerative Agriculture receives funding from the program to assist farmers in implementing cover crops, develop pastures and grazing systems, reduce fertilizer use and more. Director Rob Myers told KBIA in an email that the $25 million Conservation Crop and Livestock project, having met the Trump Administration's criteria, will continue to be funded.
Many of the Climate Smart Commodities program projects focus in part on soil health practices that aim to make farmers more resilient to climate risks.
The federal program provided Lincoln University $5 million to study hemp and develop markets and climate-smart practices for the recently legalized crop. Researchers found hemp is good at carbon sequestration, or holding carbon in the soil and keeping it out of the atmosphere. The project’s partners couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Other Missouri recipients and partners include the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry and Missouri Organic Association, which weren’t immediately available for comment.
The news release from the USDA states program participants will be contacted “to provide information about their future participation.”
