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Advancing Markets for Producers could give climate programs a second chance

The USDA is overhauling the Biden-era Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities Program. 

The department says the initiative, renamed Advancing Markets for Producers (AMP), has been reformed to align with the current administration’s priorities. 

Laurie Fischer with the American Dairy Coalition says USDA’s increased emphasis on climate-smart funding directed to farmers is good news.

“They’re looking for as many opportunities as they can to be protective to the environment, but also they have to be able to cash flow,” she says.

Fischer tells Brownfield it’s unclear how USDA will determine if grants dedicate enough funding to producers.

“This, I’m hoping isn’t going to slow down that process, but maybe streamline this process?” she says. “We look forward to anything that we can get in the hands of dairy farmers as far as sustainability and trying to improve their return on investment.”

She says many questions remain about the future of some projects that involve others in the food supply chain or building new infrastructure, like manure digesters.

USDA says it will review existing grant agreements based on three Farm First policy priorities:

• A minimum of 65 percent of federal funds must go to producers
• Grant recipients must have enrolled at least one producer as of December 31, 2024
• Grant recipients must have made a payment to at least one producer as of December 31, 2024.

Secretary Rollins says the program was largely built to advance the “green new scam” at the benefit of NGOs (Non-governmental organizations) not farmers.

Funds for the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program have been frozen while the program has been under review. The USDA says it will honor all eligible expenses incurred prior to April 13, 2025. 

Rollins made the announcement Monday as part of a visit to a Pennsylvania dairy farm.