The Agriculture Department plans to reduce the amount of information farmers must provide to participate in the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative after fielding concerns from project partners that the data requirements will scare away many producers.
“We’ve heard from a lot of the projects that, frankly, we’re asking for too much,” Robert Bonnie, USDA’s undersecretary for farm production and conservation, told Agri-Pulse on the sidelines of Commodity Classic in Houston last week.
The initiative includes more than 130 projects worth $3 billion and covering 100 different commodities so far, which is designed to promote the development of markets for commodities with a lower carbon intensity than conventional crops and livestock. Missouri is involved in the largest number of projects, 35, followed by California with 33, according to USDA.
A key aspect of the projects is evaluating the impact of various climate-smart practices, such as cover crops and reduced tillage, on greenhouse gas emissions; hence, the need for data on farm operations.
PCSC grant agreements reviewed by Agri-Pulse showed participating growers are being required by USDA to provide detailed information about operations enrolled in a project, including the average yield in the previous three years and how much financial assistance the growers had received from outside sources for implementing climate-smart practices.
USDA Undersecretary Robert BonnieUSDA is also collecting data on the reductions in greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide from operations. In addition, the projects are required to provide detailed data on payments made to participating farmers.
Bonnie said while the department wants to get a “full picture” of the impact of climate-smart practices, “We've had our team look and say, ‘OK, what's data that would be nice to have, but not a have-to-have?’” In some cases, it may be sufficient to have project-level data rather than information from individual growers, he said.
“Our expectations are that we'll have a conversation with the projects in the next couple of months, and then we'll implement that sort of pullback over the next six months,” Bonnie added.
He said he didn’t think the department would need to modify existing agreements but could instead adjust the data expectations through a “common friendly amendment.”
“This is a learning experience for us as well as those projects and how we design this and get the data that is most useful,” he said.
Bonnie also acknowledged there has been some competition among projects for producers, but he said the project sponsors are starting to talk among themselves about encouraging farmers to join the efforts that may be the best fit. “The projects are talking to themselves, and I think we can sort through that,” he said.
The PCSC projects include one being operated by the National Sorghum Producers to document the impact of climate-smart practices on the carbon intensity of sorghum, with the ultimate goal of qualifying for the new 45Z clean fuels tax credit created by the Inflation Reduction Act.
According to NSP’s 185-page grant agreement, the five-year, 1-million-acre project operating in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas is eventually expected to result in a post-project return of about $115,000 per year to sorghum producers. The $349 million project has $65 million in USDA funding.
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NSP is seeking to enroll 1,000 growers for incentive payments ranging from $40.32 to $90.41 an acre depending on the practices farmers use. The highest payment is for farmers who reduce irrigation and use no-till and precision nitrogen applications.
The project will “be a large-scale pilot that seeks to meaningfully address the U.S. climate crisis on a substantial scale,” emphasized a project summary included in the grant agreement.
Tracy Zink, a Nebraska farmer enrolled in the NSP project, told Agri-Pulse she had to submit detailed data on farming practices, including chemical usage, for the past three years.
Her farm was evaluated using satellite imagery, and she received a report estimating the soil erosion rate, net greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration on her farm. The 2023 report shows she would see improvements across the board if she planted cover crops.
Because she rotates sorghum with other crops, she’ll have to submit information on past practices for the fields planted to sorghum in that particular year.
“It's not hard — we all have … the data,” she said. She said she has confidence in the program because it is run by a producer group.
Speaking on a panel discussion at Commodity Classic about the projects, she said, “There's a misunderstanding of how that data is going to be used, and nobody wants to not be doing a good job. But this was a way for me to, in some way, defend my practices. I'm not hurting anything. In fact, I'm helping and that's one of the things that I felt good about.”
She added, “Ag kind of gets a bad rap, but we have the ability thanks to the program … to show what we're doing, to endorse what some of the options are” for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Agri-Pulse queried some PCSC project partners, including NSP, about the farmer data concerns.
In a statement, NSP said, “The nature of the information we’re collecting makes this partnership a complex undertaking, and we’re working closely with USDA to help make sure data needs are met without creating fatigue for producers involved in the project. It is a learning experience for all involved at this point.”
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