USDA Cancels Climate Agriculture Funding Plan

Climate Grants Halted as USDA Shifts to Farmer Focused Support

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has pulled the plug on a major $3.1 billion initiative launched to promote climate-friendly farming and forestry practices.

The Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program, introduced in 2022, aimed to support projects that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and market products such as climate-smart meat and vegetables. The USDA said most of the funds went to organizations and companies, with little benefit reaching individual farmers.

According to the department, many of the awarded grants included high administrative costs, with less than half of the federal funding going directly to producers.

“The Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative was largely built to advance the green new scam at the benefit of NGOs, not American farmers,” stated Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.

The USDA will now transition to a new version of the program called the Advancing Markets for Producers Program. This new format ensures that at least 65% of all federal funds will go directly to producers.

To qualify for continued funding, recipients must have made at least one payment to a producer by the end of 2024. Any expenses incurred before April 13 will still be reimbursed, but the existing structure of the program is being replaced.

Although the original program received more applications than it could handle, critics claimed it favoured large agribusinesses like Archer Daniels Midland. The updated program seeks to change that by prioritizing small and mid-sized farmers.

This marks a significant shift in USDA funding strategy, moving away from climate branding and towards more practical support for the agricultural community.