The Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture received a three-year, $80 million grant from USDA for a pilot program. The Alliance and its partners will pay producers in Arkansas, Minnesota, North Dakota and Virginia $100 per acre or animal unit for conservation practices.
Qualifying practices will include:
● Crop practices: Cover crops; no-till; reduced till; nutrient management, including precision nutrient management; conservation crop rotation; silvopasture; riparian forest buffer; riparian herbaceous cover, tree/shrub establishment, pasture and hay planting.
● Rice practices: Residue management, no-till; residue management, reduced till; irrigation water management–alternate wetting and drying for water conservation in rice; conservation crop rotation; nutrient management, including precision application and/or advanced formulations.
● Livestock practices: Comprehensive nutrient and manure management plan and implementation; roofs and covers; waste separation facility; feed management to reduce enteric emissions; prescribed grazing; nutrient management; silvopasture.
It is open to farmers, ranchers and forest owners in those four states. They expect to enroll between 1,100-1,200 per state.
There is a Justice40 goal that will demand at least 40% of participants are under-served with a minimum of 500 operations with socially disadvantage or limited resource producers.
$100 per acre sounds like a good deal, however, the maximum number of acres/animal units that can be enrolled are 160. This means the maximum payment per producer is $16,000. Also, this is a three-year program so the actual net payment per year is only $33.33 per acre/animal unit.
Producers will be able to market their climate-smart commodities through certificates with tracking numbers.
