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Want to Avoid Leaving Climate-Smart Money On the Table? There's An App for That

Fri, 29 Dec 2023 23:02:47 GMT

In 2023, USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities turned on the spigot to fund 141 projects, totaling $3 billion. Understanding the projects — each run by a different organization with its own unique offerings and structure — begs the question: Is it possible to have too much of a good thing?

“Producers are always interested in looking at opportunities, but we can’t review 141 grants,” says Jimmy Emmons, western Oklahoma rancher and Trust In Food vice president.

To cut out the time-consuming task of wading through the climate-smart projects, a new app pilot, the Climate-Smart Opportunity Navigator , seeks to remove the paperwork clutter and match farms and ranches with the right Climate-Smart Commodity grant project in minutes.

“Quicker and more efficient means to evaluate opportunities will increase participation, offer simple communication avenues, and, ultimately, get funding into the hands of growers so they can quickly turn those dollars into applied practices,” says Joelle Mosso, Western Growers Association associate vice president of science.

How Does the Climate-Smart Opportunity Navigator Work?

The app pilot, created by Farm Journal’s Trust In Food and AgWeb, is powered by USDA data on the 141 projects, most of which are focused on major commodities such as corn, soybeans and livestock. Harnessing this data in an app, producers can input their operation basics – such as location, commodities produced, and production practices and interests – and be matched with one or more of the Climate-Smart Commodities projects that fit their individual specs.

The app provides a basic description of each program match along with contact information so it’s easy to compare options and take the next step to participate.

For example, an Indiana corn grower interested in adopting no-till and cover crop practices would input their data to the Climate-Smart Commodities Opportunity Navigator. In four questions, the tool matches the farm’s profile and interests with 11 possible grant projects, such as:

Field to Market’s “Climate-Smart Agriculture Innovative Finance Initiative”
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s “Farmers for Soil Health Climate-Smart Commodities Partnership”

In contrast, a Colorado beef and bison producer looking to adopt prescribed grazing and soil health improvement practices on pasture would input their information to the Navigator tool and it matches the farm’s profile and interests with 9 grant projects that includes:

American Sustainable Business Institute Inc.’s “The Growing GRASS Project”
Sustainable Northwest’s “Building a Regenerative Ranching Economy in the West”

A Pennsylvania dairy producer interested in adopting nutrient management and cover crop practices matches with 9 grants, such as:

Truterra LLC’s “Climate SMART (Scaling Mechanisms for Ag’s Regenerative Transformation)”
Dairy Farmers of America, Inc.’s “Scaling Methane Emissions Reductions and Soil Carbon Sequestration – A Value-Added Commodities Approach for U.S. Dairy”

And an Indiana pork producer who practices feed management and integrates cover crops matches with 2 grant projects:

Fischer Farms Natural Foods LLC’s “Fischer Farm Ultimate Beef and Pork Strategy”
Farm Journal’s “The Connected Ag Project”

Big Picture: The Perfect Climate-Smart Project Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All

“It’s great there are lots of opportunity for producers with USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities, but with so much opportunity it can be very overwhelming,” says Andrew Lyon, Trust In Food’s director of technical assistance and Kansas rancher. “By putting in specific information about your operation, the Navigator tool allows you to whittle down grant opportunities to the handful that are most applicable to you and provides you contact information so that you could follow up with those few opportunities that best suit you.”

While Farm Journal is excited about its own $40 million Climate-Smart Commodity grant, The Connected Ag Project , it wants producers to get in touch with the opportunity that best suits them, Lyon adds.

Test Drive the Climate-Smart Opportunity Navigator Tool

Farm Journal’s AgWeb and Trust In Food look forward to hearing from producers about their experience using the beta version. Take the Climate-Smart Opportunity Navigator for a test run, and let us know what worked and what didn’t.

USDA’s Climate-Smart Commodities, Explained

In 2021, USDA announced a historic investment in farmers, ranchers and private forest landowners through a program dubbed the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities . The goal? To scale climate-smart agricultural production practices across the U.S. and to promote and market climate-smart commodities in thriving markets.

To do this, over the next 5 years USDA is financing 141 pilot projects to support the production, tracking and marketing of these climate-smart commodities.

While the specific Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant projects vary widely, each boil down to putting financial incentives or technical support directly into the hands of U.S. farmers, ranchers and landowners to produce and market climate-smart agricultural commodities.

While the term, “climate-smart commodity” is relatively new, the farming and ranching practices it describes have, largely, been around for much longer. Incorporating cover crops, grazing and rangeland management, prairie restoration and nutrient management are just some of the practices that fall under the climate-smart umbrella.

For many producers, participating in a CSC grant translates to getting credit and even cash payment for practices already in place on farm. What’s more, for producers seeking funding sources or simply a push to try something, new these grants are an opportunity to make a change with support along the way.

How New Carbon Claims Shortchange Sustainable Agriculture and Why It Matters

Thu, 07 Dec 2023 15:34:12 GMT

Making sense of evolving carbon markets and understanding their on-farm implications is not for the faint of heart. Mitchell Hora, CEO of Continuum Ag, seventh generation Iowa farmer and advocate for regenerative agriculture, has made it his mission to help producers navigate the carbon conversation.

Most recently, Hora and Trust In Food President, Amy Skoczlas Cole, talked shop about soil health and carbon label standards in Hora’s TopSoil series webinar , “Carbon Intensity, Taming the Wild West of Carbon.”

“The thing that you and I have gelled over is not just soil health—there’s lots of folks who are thinking about soil health. What drives me and I think drives you is, ‘How do we find really pragmatic solutions that help farmers on the journey to continuing to improve soil health, continuing to be stewards of the land, water and air?’” Skoczlas Cole said. “Where does the rubber hit the road and how do we actually figure out how we support producers along the way?”

In the hour-long discussion, the two leaders debated the promise and perils of new carbon labels in the marketplace, the shift away from carbon offsets and opportunities for farmers and ranchers to get credit for, track and communicate innovative production practices happening on farm.

Measuring molecules: the limits of carbon labels

When it comes to putting carbon and sustainability labels on animal ag products, “we need to be really careful about greenwashing,” said Skoczlas Cole.

At the end of the day, the full value of what the producer is offering on the landscape needs to translate, she continued. Good grazing management offers a host of ecosystem benefits—think open space preservation, habitat restoration, wetland protections—beyond just carbon molecules.

“I would take a grazing pasture over a subdivision any day across our landscapes,” said Skoczlas Cole. “I think that’s something that a low-carbon label does not take into account.”

Despite the opportunity to develop deeper, more comprehensive standards in some carbon label programs, Skoczlas Cole was encouraged by the growing popularity of marketing value-added commodities, over promoting a separate entity such as carbon credits.

Related news: Connecting Producers to the Climate-Smart Economy with Opportunity Navigator

“I believe that we have to broaden the conversation beyond just low carbon,” Skoczlas Cole said. “Americans love our cowboys. There’s great consumer research that farmers and ranchers are the most believable people in the U.S., and Americans want to hear stories about what it’s like to do this because only 2% of Americans get to do it anymore. If we can reconnect to the roots of what this is all about—rather than counting the molecules—we will be so much better off.”

Zoom out: the chasm between awareness and adoption

The limits of low-carbon labels aside, right now the major hurdle to getting these highly differentiated products on the shelf is producer buy-in and participation. A recent Trust In Food report, “Ready or Not? U.S. Farmers and Carbon Markets”, underlined producer reluctance to participate. The research found that among farmers and ranchers, while there was broad awareness of carbon markets, only a small fraction of producers said they were ready to join.

“93% of farmers know about carbon markets, but only 3% of farmers have actually participated in them,” said Hora, citing the report.

“The thing I want carbon markets to hear is that something has to change if we’re going to reach the mainstream of American agriculture with this possibility,” Skoczlas Cole said.

Download the report for free.

“They’re not saying they would never do it,” agreed Hora. “They’re saying, ‘Hey, I would love to do something here, but I just I’m not going to sign up for the offer as it is today.’”

“We can bemoan how poorly structured carbon markets are for annualized systems—they were never designed for that,” said Skoczlas Cole. “But in the world of animal agriculture, we actually have an opportunity with Climate-Smart Commodities to reimagine…how we think about the metrics.”

In this way, USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodity grant programs represent a new path for producers to reimagine how to get credit for, track and share sustainability data around innovative production practices happening on the ground. Trust In Food won $40 million in Climate-Smart Commodity grant funding in 2022 for its Connected Ag Project . The program incentivizes farmers to implement practices like cover crops and grazing management, while also delivering technical assistance and data-management support to track on-farm outcomes.

“Our grant is really focused on this,” said Skoczlas Cole. “We’re doing two things: We’re using data that we have within the functional ecosystem to help match producers up with solutions and practices that makes sense for their operation. Then, we are also partnering each enrollee in our program with a data provider to help gather the data and then with the data coach. It’s not just the solution, but it is also the coach that sits next to them and helps them figure out how to find value in it.”

Watch and listen to the entire TopSoil webinar, “Carbon Intensity, Taming the Wild West of Carbon” on YouTube and Spotify .