The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has selected the US Cotton Trust Protocol to lead the US Climate Smart Cotton Program, which will receive funding as one of those selected as part of the USDA Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities pilot projects.
The approximate funding ceiling is $90 million.
The Project: The project will build markets for climate-smart cotton and provide technical and financial assistance to over 1,000 US cotton farmers to advance adoption of climate smart practices on more than one million acres. This will allow the production of more than four million bales of climate smart cotton over five years.
- The project is a multi-stakeholder initiative that also includes the National Cotton Council’s export arm Cotton Council International, Cotton Incorporated, the Soil Health Institute, Soil and Water Outcomes Fund, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Agricenter International, Alabama A&M University, and North Carolina A&T State University.
Climate smart: The USDA is investing up to $2.8 billion in 70 selected projects under the first Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities funding pool, which includes proposals seeking funds ranging from $5 million to $100 million.
- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on 14 September announced that the USDA’s anticipated investment will triple to more than $3 billion in pilots that will create market opportunities for American commodities produced using climate-smart production practices.
- The USDA first announced details of the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities opportunity in February 2022. The design of this opportunity was informed by over 400 comments received in the Request for Information published in September 2021.
- Through this new opportunity, the USDA will finance partnerships to support the production and marketing of climate-smart commodities via a set of pilot projects lasting one to five years.
- Funding will be delivered through the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation in two pools. The 70 projects announced on 14 September are from the first funding pool, which included proposals seeking funds ranging from $5 million to $100 million.
