Field to Market awarded up to US$70 million in USDA funding for Climate-Smart Agriculture Innovative Finance Initiatives

The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture has been awarded funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities opportunity with an approximate funding ceiling of US$70 million. The organization will work closely with USDA in the coming weeks to finalize the grant’s overall scope.

Field to Market’s project centers around the Climate-Smart Agriculture Innovative Finance Initiative, which will use innovative finance mechanisms to accelerate climate-smart practice uptake by farmers, leveraging private sector demand to strengthen markets for climate-smart commodities.

The Initiative builds upon the work of Field to Market’s Innovative Finance Committee, which published the report Financial Innovations to Accelerate Sustainable Agriculture: Blueprints for the Value Chain earlier this year.

“The transition to climate-smart agricultural practices is a journey that many farmers cannot undertake alone,” said Field to Market President, Scott Herndon, who will be one of the +75 speakers at The Future of Food Production Summit on 15/16/17 November. “We are incredibly grateful to be selected as a recipient of this funding, as it allows us to increase the availability of innovative strategies that reduce the financial and agronomic risks for farmers in adopting climate-smart practices.”

With its funding proposal, Field to Market received 72 letters of support from organizations across the agricultural value chain and from each of Field to Market’s membership sectors, with project partners committing to contribute up to US$137 million in matching funds. These partnerships will provide technical assistance and additional financial incentives to participating producers, tying climate-smart practices to commodity purchases, and creating a scalable model for private sector investment.

“Field to Market continues to serve as the leading organization uniting the entire agricultural value chain around sustainability. This grant will supercharge our ability to support farmers and increase the adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices on millions of acres,” added Herndon.

“The many partners in this initiative are committed to deploying innovative financial solutions by bringing together the agriculture value chain and finance sector, generating lasting benefits for the climate and farmer livelihoods,” explained Maggie Monast, Co-chair of the Innovative Finance Committee & Senior Director of Climate-Smart Agriculture at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

A portion of the awarded funds will specifically support Black and Native producers, assisting historically underserved producers in adopting climate-smart practices through key partnerships with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, the Intertribal Agriculture Council and Akiptan.

Other major project partners include PepsiCo, Farmers Business Network, EDF, Archer Daniels Midland, the Illinois Corn Growers Association, Precision Conservation Management, Nutrien Ag Solutions, Growers Edge, Mondelēz, Michigan State University, Coop Elevator and the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.

“By pairing innovative finance incentives with comprehensive technical assistance, The Initiative will unite the agriculture value chain and drive monumental change in the production and marketing of climate-smart commodities,” concluded Field to Market Board Chair Brandon Hunnicutt. “We’re grateful that the USDA has selected our Initiative for this enormous opportunity and we look forward to working with our partners to accelerate change within our sector.”