More than half of Climate-Smart Partnership money not paid out

More than half the $3.1 billion set aside for the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities remains in an account at the Agriculture Department and has not been paid out, a knowledgeable source told The Hagstrom Report today on the sidelines of the welcoming ceremony for Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. The Trump administration stopped the payments shortly after President Trump took office on January 20, and the source said the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is waiting for guidance on how to proceed. Tom Vilsack, the Agriculture secretary in the Biden administration, started the Partnerships program to create a way for farmers and ranchers to adopt practices to reduce carbon emissions and grow products that can be sold at a premium as climate-smart.

The money, which came from the Commodity Credit Corporation, a line of credit at the Treasury over which the Agriculture secretary has control, is supposed to go to lead partners such as commodity groups that pass it on to smaller groups who distribute some of it directly to farmers. A Republican congressional aide said last year at a briefing that Republicans do not believe such contracts can be clawed back.

–The Hagstrom Report