USDA Cancels $3 Billion Program for Climate-Related Farming

“It has become clear that most of these projects have vacant management fees,” the agency says.

The USDA announced on April 15 that it had ended its $3.1 billion climate-related agriculture program after realising it didn’t match the Trump administration’s priorities.

The website’s archived USDA dashboard says the agency has invested billions in partnerships for climate smart products. This previously states funding priorities such as planting cover crops to prevent erosion, soil nutrient management, and other initiatives.

According to the project dashboard on the USDA website, funds were allocated to 135 projects in all states, promoting carbon sequestration, methane emissions reductions and other climate-related practices. The Biden administration had predicted that the climate program would reach around 60,000 farms and cut millions of tons of carbon dioxide.

However, the USDA said that the management of the project was expensive and was cancelled after a “comprehensive line review of each of these Biden-era partnerships.”

The USDA said the decision was to cut what is called a bureaucratic deficit for farmers. The agency added that most projects provide too much money to farmers, with too much management costs.

“It has become clear that most of these projects have empty management fees, often less than half of the federal funds, provided directly to farmers,” the USDA said in a statement.

Some projects under the initiative could continue if the USDA determines that the funds will be sent to farmers, according to the agency.

“The Climate-Smart Commodities Initiative partnership was primarily built to advance the new Green fraud in the interests of NGOs rather than American farmers,” USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement, adding that farmers’ concerns “seater seats” to climate interests.

Rollins said when he was the head of the USDA, farmers told her that she was “in the red and burdened,” and that she would need to submit “complex reports” to access those programs.

Some projects may be allowed to continue. Alternatively, if a minimum of 65% of the funds is sent to the farmer and proves that payments have been distributed to the farmer by December 31, 2024, the grantee may reapply for the reformed version of the program.

Monday’s announcement comes in the midst of a broader effort by the Trump administration to cut funding for climate-related programs across the federal government. On the day he took office, President Donald Trump declared a “national energy emergency” to boost production, saying that the Biden administration’s policies would have a detrimental effect on the nation’s network.

For example, last month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that dozens of actions would be needed to increase U.S. energy and car production and to take dozens of steps to make decisions for states.

Earlier this month, Trump decided to strengthen U.S. energy production and invest more in oil, natural gas, coal, hydroelectric power, geothermal, biofuels, critical minerals and nuclear energy as a way to protect “national overreach.”

“When state and local governments try to regulate energy beyond constitutional or statutory authorities, America’s control of energy is threatened,” Trump’s order said.