Washington, D.C. (September 14, 2022)—The National Council of Farmer Cooperatives today applauded the $2.8 billion announcement by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack, which will fund 70 projects under the Climate-Smart Partnerships program. USDA had originally intended to fund the program at $1 billion but increased that investment with additional funds from Commodity Credit Corporation in response to the volume and quality of proposals received.
“The Secretary’s announcement today represents a significant commitment by USDA and the federal government to helping America’s farmers, ranchers, and growers adopt climate smart farming practices and measure the positive impacts they have on reaching this country’s climate goals,” said Chuck Conner, president and CEO of NCFC. “It is especially heartening to see that some 10% of the projects are either being led by or have major participation by farmer cooperatives. This illustrates not just the commitment of co-ops to climate-smart agriculture, but that co-ops can bring these benefits to the greatest number of producers while serving to connect them to other partners up and down the food and ag value chain.”
A full list of projects receiving funding can be found on the USDA web site here: https://www.usda.gov/climate-solutions/climate-smart-commodities/projects.
About NCFC
Since 1929, NCFC has been the voice of America’s farmer cooperatives. Our members are regional and national farmer cooperatives, which are in turn composed of nearly 2,000 local farmer cooperatives across the country. NCFC members also include 26 state and regional councils of cooperatives. Farmer cooperatives allow individual farmers the ability to own and lead organizations that are essential for continued competitiveness in both the domestic and international markets.
America’s farmer-owned cooperatives provide a comprehensive array of services for their members. These diverse organizations handle, process and market virtually every type of agricultural commodity. They also provide farmers with access to infrastructure necessary to manufacture, distribute and sell a variety of farm inputs. Additionally, they provide credit and related financial services, including export financing.
