USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities
Action for Climate-Smart Agriculture
Our project will develop partnerships, technical infrastructure,
and sustained funding to support climate-smart markets
starting now and continuing into the future
This 5-year project will expand climate-smart practice implementation, soil carbon measurement and monitoring, business planning, and market support for producers and purchasers in the West, Mountain West, and Northeast United States. Each farm project will have the opportunity to be connected to open-source, farmer-centric agricultural technology to support their practice implementation and market access. Additionally, investments from purchasers and other funders will go beyond federal funding, increasing the resources accessible to producers for such climate-smart practice implementation.
We are targeting:
- Support for nearly 400 producers, at least 40% of which are historically underserved.
- New or deepened partnerships with at least 20 purchasers, amounting to improved climate-smart practice and tool adoption within purchasers’ supply chains during and following the 5-year project.
- Deployment of over $15 million in federal funds for on-farm assets, such as soil carbon analyses, transition finance, or technical assistance to directly benefit producers.
PROJECT OPPORTUNITES
- Engage producers with tools and technology as they choose, equipping them and other food systems actors with shared knowledge, collaborative frameworks, and open-source, connected technologies.
- Provide direct-to-producer grants for on-farm and on-ranch climate-smart agriculture implementation.
- Implement modeling, measuring and verification of climate benefits to support research concurrent with advancing widespread climate-smart agriculture implementation.
- Outreach to TAPs about OpenTEAM’s tech ecosystem, engaging them for early input regarding digital marketplaces and other technology systems and tools for farmer-partners.
- Invest in existing TAP networks to grow collective, place-based expertise in on-farm soil sampling through partnerships with experts in soil science, sampling methodology, and ecological data collection and storage.
- Partner with purchasers to entrench sustained supply network regeneration.
- Connect producers and purchasers with tools that will help provide each with the production and supply chain information they need to make the best decision for their operations.
- Develop interconnected and accessible technological infrastructure between producers, buyers, funders, TAPs, tools and systems.
- Cultivate community with new and existing collaborators across the West and Northeast as the project grows.
ENROLLMENT INFORMATION
Producers looking to participate in this project may reach out to the Regional Markets Program Manager in your region:
OpenTEAM West Markets Program Manager – Molly Taylor, molly@openteam.community
OpenTEAM Mountain West Markets Program Manager – Sunni Heikes-Knapton, sunni@openteam.community
OpenTEAM Northeast Markets Program Manager – Karna Ray, karna@openteam.community
States included in this project: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming.
Buyers looking to participate in this project may reach out to Hannah Tikalsky, OpenTEAM’s Director of Network Development for Environmental Markets, at hannah@openteam.community.
This work is supported by a subaward from a federal grant, led by OpenTEAM as an initiative of Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment.
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number NR233A750004G032.
Relevant data and stories will be shared with other USDA project awardees and USDA leadership to inform the next generation of grant funding and other climate-smart infrastructure supports. Data will only be shared by the USDA in aggregate and de-identified. Learn more about USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities here.
PROJECT PARTNERS
This list of partners will expand as we finalize partnership agreements and the project grows.
Greenexus, LLC, dba LookINTO
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In addition, any reference to specific brands or types of products or services does not constitute or imply an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for those products or services.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
