FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis. — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack traveled with his wife, Christie, to a small Wisconsin community to celebrate the launch of Enrich Foods’ climate-friendly rice at Great River Milling. What was special about the product launch? The rice packaged by Enrich Foods, a Columbia Grain company, represents the first consumer product to be funded by the Biden administration’s Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities (PCSC), a $3.1 billion initiative that will fund 141 sustainability projects involving small and underserved producers.

“Today is a really important day for us at USDA. A year or so ago I was here in Wisconsin launching the PCSC initiative and now we have the first product of this effort,” Vlisack said during the March 26 press event, which was simulcast via Zoom. “Over 20,000 acres, there wereb30 farmers who took the leap and embraced a new irrigation water management system, reduced methane (and used) innovative remote sensors to determine and evaluate the results.”   

Vilsack was introduced by Jim Whitaker, a fifth-generation farmer from Arkansas who employs sustainable practices to produce his rice for Columbia Grain. Whitaker was part of a committee that set carbon protocol for rice for the American Carbon Registry, and was one of three Arkansas families to sell the first-ever agricultural carbon credits to Microsoft. 

Whitaker became associated with carbon marketer AgriCapture, of Nashville, Tenn., a few years ago. With the recommendation of a seed dealer friend, he enrolled some of his acreage with AgriCapture and almost immediately received an upfront payment for his carbon sequestration efforts. He also received an offer to market his rice to Columbia Grain. That led the Arkansas producer to the PCSC. 

“What (PCSC) is doing is delivering money back into small communities like mine that keeps us economically viable. Mr. Secretary, I believe the PCSC is going to move agriculture faster than anything we’ve ever seen. I think we are going to move into another era of U.S. ag,” said Whitaker.

On September 14, 2022, Vilsack announced USDA would be investing up to $2.8 billion in 70 selected projects under the first pool of PCSC funding opportunity. On December 12, 2022, he announced $325 million would be invested in an additional 71 projects under the sec1ond funding pool.

The funding provides technical and financial assistance to producers to implement climate-smart production practices on a voluntary basis on working lands, pilot innovative and cost-effective methods for quantification, monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas benefits, and develop markets and promote the resulting climate-smart commodities.

“The gist of this program is partnership in collaboration. It’s farmers working with farm groups, with agribusiness, universities, environmental and conservation groups and the major commodity groups, and in concert and partnership to create more products and opportunities,” Vilsack told the crowd gathered in Fountain City, which borders the Mississippi River in western Wisconsin’s Buffalo County. 

“It’s an opportunity for us to create a different narrative about American agriculture. You get a benefit environmentally, a benefit economically and you also get to help create an image of American agriculture that is innovative and committed to sustainability,” he added. 

As the program unfolds and more projects are approved for funding, USDA anticipates PCSC activities will result in:

• Hundreds of expanded markets and revenue streams for farmers, ranchers and commodities across agriculture and forestry ranging from traditional corn to specialty crops.

• More than 60,000 farms reached, encompassing more than 25 million acres of working land engaged in climate-smart production practices such as cover crops, no-till and nutrient management, along with pasture and forestry management.

• More than 60 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent sequestered over the lives of the projects. (Equivalent to removing more than 12 million gasoline-powered passenger vehicles from the road for one year.)

• Involvement of nearly 100 universities, including over 30 minority serving institutions.