A grant program from the United States Department of Agriculture to assist farmers and businesses combating climate change has selected their projects, funding approximately 70 proposals with up to $2.8 billion.

Iowa Farm Service Agency Director Matt Russell tells KNIA News the investment is built upon putting farmers at the forefront of the climate change battle, in partnership with agribusinesses and researchers to help build a global market for carbon neutral or carbon negative products.

“These projects all have to include farmers. So the researchers, the agribusinesses, the farm groups, they are hypothesizing and testing these things, but they are doing it with farmers themselves at the field scale, not a test plot. Farmers are putting these practices in their fields, in their livestock operations. There will be some payments to farmers to be a part of this and to implement some of these practices, and then the research will help drive public data that will hopefully influence the markets that are being developed around the commodities. A lower carbon footprint, and eventually producing carbon-negative products.”

Russell said farmers, and farmers in Iowa especially, are going to play a unique and important role in solving the climate crisis and he is excited to see where these projects lead.