The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week announced a second round of Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities funding for sustainability in agriculture projects that included 28 in Arkansas.
The Biden Administration, via the USDA, allocated $325 million in total for 71 pilot projects via the Climate-Smart Commodities program, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday at Tuskegee University in Alabama. It is the second round of funding for the program.
Vilsack visited England in Lonoke County on Sept. 14 to announce $2.8 billion had been allocated for 70 projects in the first round.
For the second round of funding, the University of Arkansas System will take the lead on a project worth up to $3.7 million for a wood products project involving the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, University of Arkansas at Monticello and Texas A&M.
Winrock International will lead a project worth up to $20 million that involves rice and beef, in partnership with Riceland Foods, Inc. and others.
USA Rice Federation, Inc. will take the lead on a rice project worth up to $80 million.
Tyson Foods, Inc. will take the lead on a beef, poultry, pork and corn project worth up to $60 million.
In the first round of funding in Arkansas, USA Rice Federation, Winrock International and Tyson Foods were approved for major contracts worth at least $160 million in total.
The first Arkansas projects chosen were geared mostly toward rice production, a few other row crops and cattle and poultry.
The USDA has chosen 141 total projects worth more than $3.1 billion in both rounds of Climate-Smart Commodities funding, a USDA press release stated.
"Small and underserved producers are facing the impacts of climate change head on, with limited resources, and have the most to gain from leveraging the growing market demand for agricultural goods produced in a sustainable, climate-smart way," Vilsack said in the release.
"Our goal is to expand markets for climate-smart commodities and ensure that small and underserved producers reap the benefits of these market opportunities."
All of the chosen project proposals include plans to match 50% of the federal investment on average with non-federal funds, the release stated.
Via both funding pools, the Climate-Smart program expects to reach more than 60,000 farms across 25 million acres of working land, to sequester more than 66 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent over the lives of the projects and involved nearly 100 universities, including 30 minority-serving institutions.
The Climate-Smart Commodities program was designed to help American producers create products that consider the producer's impact on climate change, by expanding markets for these producers, utilizing greenhouse gas emission reduction incentive programs and uplifting small and underserved producers, the release said.
The USDA has received more than 1,000 proposals by approximately 700 entities from all 50 states for over $20 billion in requested funding via the Climate-Smart Initiative for both pools of funding.