U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the cancellation of the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities (PCSC). This follows a comprehensive review of these Biden-era partnerships, revealing that the majority of projects had substantial administration fees, often resulting in less than half of the federal funding reaching farmers. Rollins stated that specific projects might proceed if a significant portion of the federal funds benefits the farmers.
In her announcement, Rollins emphasized the USDA's commitment to farmers, saying, "We continue to support farmers and encourage partners to ensure their projects are farmer-focused or re-apply to continue work that is aligned with the priorities of this Administration." These actions aim to reduce bureaucratic obstacles, simplify reporting, lower paperwork burdens, and prioritize farmers.
The USDA has also transformed the prior initiative into the Advancing Markets for Producers (AMP). The department introduced changes to align the initiative with current administration priorities, establishing three “Farmer First” policy criteria: at least 65% of federal funds must reach producers, recipients must have enrolled at least one producer by December 31, 2024, and payments must have started to at least one producer by the same date.
Secretary Rollins criticized the previous initiative, stating, "The Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative was largely built to advance the green new scam at the benefit of NGOs, not American farmers." She continued, "The concerns of farmers took a backseat during the Biden Administration. During my short time as Secretary, I have heard directly from our farmers that many of the USDA partnerships are overburdened by red tape, have ambiguous goals, and require complex reporting that push farmers onto the sidelines. We are correcting these mistakes and redirecting our efforts to set our farmers up for an unprecedented era of prosperity."
The USDA plans to contact current partners individually regarding their future involvement and will honor all expenses incurred before April 13, 2025. This reform utilizes existing funding without introducing new financial resources for these partnerships.
