PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (February 1, 2023) – Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) was awarded $3 million to provide training, education, and community engagement to underserved farmers across 60 counties in East Texas via the Climate-Smart Farm Planning Program.
Additionally, the Climate-Smart Farm Planning Program will help producers market to down-supply chain purchasing partners that have placed value on regenerative agriculture.
“This initiative provides farming communities with the remarkable opportunity to improve their farming practices, systems, and technology while addressing the agricultural sector’s increasingly critical need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said PVAMU Vice President of Research & Innovation Magesh Rajan, Ph.D., P.E., MBA. “The funding for these projects boosts our ability to develop projects that support historically underserved farmers across the State of Texas. The success of these initiatives will benefit our programs in the scientific community as well as the greater global agricultural industry.”
The Climate-Smart Farm Planning Program will be implemented in three phases:
- Training and providing technical assistance to farmers
- Educational programs and field days to implement regenerative agriculture practices
- Engagement through partnerships to help farmers move through their first harvest and into the marketplace
Furthermore, this includes listening to the individual needs of farmers to incorporate regenerative agriculture practices, financial incentives, and ongoing advisement to help farmers and ranchers.
Clarence Bunch, program leader, College of Agriculture and Human Services
The project’s lead principal investigator, Clarence Bunch, Ph.D., Agriculture Natural Resources Program Leader of the College of Agriculture and Human Services (CAHS) Cooperative Extension Program (CEP) at PVAMU, has partnered with Cargill Inc., and community-based organizations such as Texas AgriForestry Small Farmers and Ranchers, the Landowners Association of Texas, and 100 Ranchers, Inc. to support a diverse range of farmers, ranchers, and private forest landowners. Dr. Bunch noted that this would not be possible without Ashley Pellerin and his AgNR Team and the support of Cargill, Inc. The project will also involve support from Cooperative Extension Program (CEP) staff.
This award is part of the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Funding opportunity announced by the USDA in February 2022.
Per the announcement, the USDA is investing more than $1 billion in an effort to “Increase [the] adoption of Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry (CSAF) practices and systems that reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and/or increase carbon sequestration from the agricultural sector,” by expanding market outcomes to address the need for new and expanded markets for CSAF commodities, including for small and underserved producers.
The initiative was designed to grow the markets for climate-smart commodities in the U.S., leverage the greenhouse gas benefits of climate-smart commodity production, and provide direct, meaningful benefits to production agriculture, including for small and underserved producers.
“Expanding opportunities for small and underserved producers is a key goal of Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities,” said USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Small and underserved producers are facing the impacts of climate change head-on, with limited resources, and have the most to gain from leveraging the growing market demand for agricultural goods produced in a sustainable, climate-smart way. Our goal is to expand markets for climate-smart commodities and ensure that small and underserved producers reap the benefits of these market opportunities.”
Dr. Bunch was awarded alongside his colleague, Ram Ray, Ph.D., associate professor in the Cooperative Agriculture Research Center, who is leading the Climate-Smart Sustainability (CSS) Certificate project.
Additionally, PVAMU was a co-lead for three projects under the first funding pool announced in September 2022.
###
By Jenna Craig
Link to article about Dr. Ray’s award.