By Ad Crable, Chesapeake Bay Journal

Federal grants totaling hundreds of millions of dollars are heading to Chesapeake Bay drainage states as part of an initiative to get farmers and forest landowners to adopt climate-smart practices.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program is among the climate-fighting measures funded by the Biden administration’s recently passed Inflation Reduction Act.

In all, 70 projects were selected nation-wide for $2.8 billion in grants. It includes approximately $980 million for 23 initiatives that are entirely directed to Bay states, with additional funds for three projects that are partly in the Bay region.

The grants range from $10 million to $95 million and will be headed by nonprofit organizations, universities, trade associations, farm groups, state agencies and large agriculture corporations.

Funded projects will benefit farmers producing livestock, milk, grains, forage crops and vegetables, as well as timber and forestry practices that reduce greenhouse gases.

Conservation measures to be encouraged include cover crops, low– or no-till planting, nutrient and manure management, rotational grazing, more efficient fertilizers, streamside buffers, tree planting, soil amendments, and livestock feeds that reduce methane emissions from belching cattle.

Most of the initiatives will also help protect water quality in the Bay watershed by reducing agricultural runoff that carries harmful nutrients and sediment.

To encourage these practices, many of the grants will pay producers directly, while others will be aimed at getting food and beverage companies to market climate-friendly products and encouraging consumers to pay a little more for them.

Other projects will find ways to quantify and verify carbon-reduction methods on farms to improve the system of selling carbon credits to other sectors.

“There is strong and growing interest in the private sector and among consumers for food that is grown in a climate-friendly way,” said USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack.

One of the largest grants, an $80 million pilot program led by Virginia Tech, will pay Virginia farmers $100 per acre to employ cover crops, no-till planting and advanced nutrient management, as well as plant streamside buffers.

Livestock producers will get aid to implement manure-management plans, prescribed grazing, and the use of methane-reducing cattle feed.

The largest grant recipient is the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, which is getting $95 million to increase the use of cover crops by corn and soybean farmers in Maryland, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Part of the project focuses on creating market demand for climate-friendly products.

Similarly, the National Association of Conservation Districts and its partners will get $90 million to subsidize best practices and boost demand for climate-smart grain and dairy products nationwide, including the Bay watershed states.

The Nature Conservancy and a host of partners will get $60 million to encourage the growth of agroforestry — integrating trees into farm and livestock operations to increase carbon uptake while growing timber, nuts, fruits and livestock feed.

The initiative received kudos from many environmental groups, including Britt Groosman of the Environmental Defense Fund.

“This is the decisive decade for determining what our climate future will be. Agriculture currently contributes 10% of U.S. emissions, but it has enormous capacity to be part of the solution,” she said.

But the Friends of the Earth was critical of sending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to “some of the most egregious climate offenders — Big Ag corporations like JBS, Cargill and ADM. … It’s a massive corporate giveaway.”

[How Clean Is Your Stream?

[Check DEP’s 2022 Water Quality Report to find out how clean streams are near you].

(Reprinted from Chesapeake Bay Journal.)

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[Posted: October 5, 2022]

10/10/2022