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HabiTerre Becomes Partner on $90 million USDA Climate Smart Commodities Grant
HabiTerre is excited to be selected as one of the partners for a $90 million USDA Climate Smart Commodities grant.
The USDA is investing up to $2.8 billion in 70 selected projects under the first Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities funding pool, which includes proposals seeking funds ranging from $5 million to $100 million. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the USDA’s historic investment in these projects at the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Event.
HabiTerre is a part of the “Strengthening Grassroots Leadership and Capacity to Scale Climate-Smart Production Systems and Facilitate Underserved Producers’ Access to Markets” project. This project will work through its network of 3,000 conservation districts throughout the nation to grow and advance grassroots efforts to ensure producers and local communities are prepared to meet the demand and have access to climate-smart commodity markets.
With the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) as the lead partner on the project, they will work with HabiTerre and other partners including the Indian Nations Conservation Alliance (INCA), Rural Coalition, the Kansas Black Farmers Association, the Rural Advancement Fund of the National Sharecroppers Fund, the Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC), Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, and Cornell University Atkinson Center for Sustainability.
“We are thrilled about the opportunity to invest in local communities through USDA’s Climate Smart Commodities program,” said NACD President Michael Crowder. “Good soil health is climate-smart. We know that producers are more likely to implement climate-smart production systems if transition risks are mitigated and they have ready access to profitable market opportunities.”
The USDA anticipates that these 70 projects will result in:
- Hundreds of expanded markets and revenue streams for producers and commodities across agriculture ranging from traditional corn to specialty crops.
- More than 50 thousand farms reached, encompassing over 20-25 million acres of working land engaged in climate-smart production practices such as cover crops, no-till and nutrient management.
- More than 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent sequestered over the lives of the projects. This is equivalent to removing more than 10 million gasoline-powered passenger vehicles from the road for one year.
- More than 50 universities, including multiple minority-serving institutions, engaged and helping advance projects, especially with outreach and monitoring, measurement, reporting, and verification.
- Proposals for the 70 selected projects include plans to match on average over 50% of the federal investment with nonfederal funds.
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