US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Pasa Executive Director Hannah Smith-Brubaker at Penn State University during the announcement of major USDA Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities grant recipients. Photo credit: Mark Higgins
USDA announced that Pasa Sustainable Agriculture has been awarded a USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant with an approximate funding ceiling of $55,000,000 to foster collaboration among 20 regional farming and agroforestry organizations serving more than 20,000 small to mid-scale and underserved farmers who are uniquely impacted by climate change.
The award will support a regional expansion of Pasa’s soil health and financial benchmarking community science projects and peer-to-peer learning among farmers; advance regional adoption of climate-smart farming practices; support research on calculating and verifying carbon benefits of conservation farming practices; and strengthen the financial viability of farms that utilize climate-smart practices through income stream innovations.
More details to come pending additional administrative review by the USDA.
“Investments in farms that are committing to climate-smart practices are an investment in the future of our food system. This award is also an investment in collaboration — it will financially support so many of our partner organizations across the region and the farmers in their communities.”
— Hannah Smith-Brubaker, Pasa Executive Director