Ag Industry Reacts To USDA's New Rules For $3.1 Billion Climate-Smart Program

On April 14, the USDA announced it was cancelling the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities (PCSC) program and renaming it the Advancing Markets for Producers (AMP) initiative with a new set of rules.

Introduced under the Biden administration, the $3.1 billion PCSC program included more than 130 projects with the goal to encourage farmers to adopt conservation practices to produce climate-smart commodities. Funds for PCSC have been frozen while the Trump administration reviewed the program.

In a press release, the USDA said, "Following a thorough line by line review of each of these Biden era partnerships, it became clear that the majority of these projects had sky-high administration fees which in many instances provided less than half of the federal funding directly to farmers. Select projects may continue if it is demonstrated that a significant amount of the federal funds awarded will go to farmers."

Existing grant agreements will be reviewed based on these priorities, according to the USDA:

A minimum of 65% of federal funds must go to producers.

Grant recipients must have enrolled at least one producer as of Dec. 31, 2024.

Grant recipients must have made a payment to at least one producer as of Dec. 31, 2024.

Some projects have already been given the green light to continue. The National Pork Board (NPB) is involved in several PCSC projects and is the lead on Advancing U.S. Pork Sustainability and Market Value Grant. NPB confirmed that the USDA has given them approval to continue with that project and will provide more details in the coming days.

Successful Farming reached out to multiple organizations who were involved in PCSC projects to get their response. Those are listed below as well as reactions from the American Farm Bureau Federation. Several organizations declined to comment at this time.