Sign up to create alerts for Instruments,
Economic Events and content by followed authors
Free Sign Up Already have an account? Sign In
Quotes
All Instrument Types
- All Instrument Types
- Indices
- Equities
- ETFs
- Funds
- Commodities
- Currencies
- Crypto
- Bonds
- Certificates
Please try another search
Free Webinar - Master High-Probability Trades! | Tuesday, March 21, 2023 | 11:00AM PST Enroll Now
U.S. agriculture agency extends climate funding to small farmers
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A machine harvester fills a load pulled by a tractor with processing tomatoes while another tractor follows behind in Los Banos, California, U.S. September 6, 2022. REUTERS/Nathan Frandino/File Photo
By Leah Douglas
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Agriculture will distribute an additional $325 million in funding for projects tailored to smaller-scale farmers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, taking its total annual investment in climate-friendly farming to more than $3 billion, the agency announced Monday.
USDA's efforts are part of a broader Biden administration goal to cut U.S. emissions, targeting the approximately 10% generated from farming annually, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told Reuters a key goal of the program is to enable more farmers to serve the growing consumer market for sustainably produced food.
"We want to encourage farmers and producers to accelerate use of these practices and we want the market to recognize and value (that) work," he said.
The money will fund 71 projects, ranging from $250,000 to just under $5 million, which will aid small and historically underserved farmers in adopting and assessing lower-emission farming practices.
The funded groups include Black farmer associations, Native American tribes and organizations that serve women, veteran and beginning farmers.
Some projects will monitor and verify the benefits of climate-friendly farm practices like rotating crops, installing solar panels in farm fields and reducing fertilizer application. Others will provide technical assistance to help farmers adopt new practices and skills.
The money will come from USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), which is funded by the U.S. Treasury to support the farm economy. USDA also drew on CCC money for the $2.8 billion round of funding for 70 climate-friendly farm projects of $5 million to $100 million the agency announced in September.
Republican U.S. Representative G.T. Thompson of Pennsylvania, incoming chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, has argued USDA's use of CCC money for the projects is outside of its authority and has said he will audit the program.
"I am sure there are worthy projects, but USDA is abusing the authorities of the (CCC) and this will be reviewed in the new year," Thompson said in an email.
Vilsack told Reuters he was not concerned about a potential audit.
"We're helping to create a market opportunity for farmers, which is precisely what the CCC was designed to do," he said.
Related Articles
Add Chart to Comment
Confirm Block
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
Report this comment
I feel that this comment is:
Comment flagged
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.