Expanding Climate-Smart Markets

Small and underserved agricultural producers are facing the impacts of climate change head on. With limited resources, these producers have the most to gain from leveraging the growing market demand for agricultural goods produced in a sustainable, climate-smart way. That’s why expanding opportunities for small and underserved producers is a key goal of   Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities  .

Below we’ll share a handful of the 141 projects that are working to expand markets, leverage greenhouse gas benefits of climate-smart production, and provide meaningful benefits to producers, especially small and underserved producers. 

First, producers benefit from expanded markets for climate-smart commodities which are produced using farming, ranching or forestry practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or sequester carbon. This effort works to create and expand markets, increase prices and provide incentives for climate-smart commodities, while also providing assistance to help producers market those commodities. For example,  Florida A&M University  is helping Black and indigenous producers adopt climate-smart practices.

 Second, Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities invests in trainings and technical assistance for producers on climate-smart commodity production and practices as well as provides funding to help with putting these practices to work on ag operations.

 This funding is especially important to small and underserved producers, who often face unique challenges that can adopting these practices tough. For example, the  Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship, Inc.  is not only helping small-scale dairies adopt climate-smart practices, but setting up a network of farms to serve as places where other dairy farmers can learn about generating revenue through climate-smart practices.

Third, this effort works to provide other on-farm benefits, from more productive land and increased yields to lower fertilizer and other input costs. It also helps producers invest in long-term resiliency in their land to climate and weather event impacts.

And finally, Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities is working to provide credible greenhouse gas monitoring, measurement, reporting and verification systems. These are necessary to ensure climate-smart commodity markets deliver differentiated products that consumers trust. These systems must also be feasible, affordable, and delivered with few transaction costs, and available to big farms and small-scale ones, to urban farms to those in rural areas.

• Hundreds of expanded markets and revenue streams for farmers and ranchers and commodities across agriculture ranging from traditional corn to specialty crops.  
• More than 60,000 farms reached, encompassing more than 25 million acres of working land engaged in climate-smart production practices, like cover crops, no-till and nutrient management.   
• More than 60 million metric tons of carbon dioxide sequestered over the lives of the projects. This is equivalent to removing more than 12 million gasoline-powered passenger vehicles from the road for one year.  
• Involvement of nearly 100 universities, including over 30 minority serving institutions. This will bring new ideas and innovative skills in monitoring and outreach. This includes: 
  • 11 projects with a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) as the lead and more than 35 projects with HBCUs as major partners; and
  • Six projects with a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as the lead and nearly 20 projects with HSIs as major partners.
• Over 20 tribes and tribal groups (such as the  InterTribal Buffalo Council ) leading and partnering on many projects and representing tribes across a wide geography.   
• Proposals for the 141 selected projects include plans to match on average 50% of the federal investment with non-federal funds. 

These projects are working to expand markets, leverage greenhouse gas benefits of climate-smart production, and provide meaningful benefits to producers, especially small and underserved producers. 

Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities is part of USDA’s broader strategy to position agriculture and forestry as leaders in climate change mitigation through voluntary, incentive-based, market-driven approaches. Visit  usda.gov/climate-smart-commodities  to learn more about this effort, and  usda.gov/climate-solutions  for climate-related updates, resources and tools across the Department.