The Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture (formerly the RIPE Partnership) is a pilot program that will reward farmers and ranchers for adopting climate-smart agriculture practices while generating real-time information about how to reach and engage producers, best design a program with significant opportunity for environmental benefit, and generate market access for climate-smart commodities. We are proud that the pilot is built on RIPE’s methodology and approach to paying producers fairly for conservation practices.
As part of the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program, the pilot will launch in mid-2023 in Arkansas, Minnesota, North Dakota and Virginia with almost $60 million going directly to producers who adopt climate-smart practices. Lead applicant Virginia Tech will administer the project with participation from 14 additional named partners, as well as supporters who will officially join the project after it launches. RIPE will volunteer support on project implementation as needed.
Expanding this opportunity beyond these four states is possible! Learn about our farm bill strategy and how you can help make the RIPE proposal a reality for all producers here.
Partners in the Four-State Pilot Project
- Arkansas: The Arkansas Department of Agriculture will implement the project with support from the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts. Producer group partners are the Arkansas Rice Federation and the Agricultural Council of Arkansas.
- Minnesota: The Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources will implement the project. Producer group partners are the Minnesota Farmers Union, Minnesota Soil Health Coalition, and Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association.
- North Dakota: The North Dakota Farmers Union will implement the project. Producer group partner is the North Dakota Grain Growers Association.
- Virginia: The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation will implement the project with support from Virginia Cooperative Extension, the Thomas Jefferson and Colonial Conservation Districts, and Virginia State University, an 1890 land-grant university.
- The National Association of Conservation Districts will support consistency in training and outcomes across the implementing conservation districts in each pilot state.
National Research and Convening Partners
The Environmental Initiative, National Black Growers Council, Supporters of Agricultural Research (SoAR) Foundation, Sustainable Food Lab, and Keystone Policy Center will manage work streams that include the following: refining payment terms to ensure they remain above costs; integrating productivity increases alongside climate-smart practices; supporting smaller producers and producers of color; refining livestock impact measurement tools; and prototyping a climate-smart certificate that can be sold in the private market.
Watch this space for more pilot details!
Pilot outcomes include:
- Piloting the RIPE concept that rewards farmers and ranchers with a payment above costs for adopting climate-smart ag practices. The pilot will enroll 4,400 to 4,800 producers in Arkansas, Minnesota, North Dakota and Virginia.
- Integrating productivity increases as part of a climate-smart program to meet the goal of continuing U.S. producers’ agricultural leadership while advancing the adoption of climate-smart practices.
- Recommending livestock program design elements based on research, convenings and a pilot that will test feed additives, feed management tool design and high-cost practices that provide significant environmental benefit.
- Integrating private market recommendations that support increasing the supply of climate-smart commodities for the private market through a public program.
Equity and Inclusion
The Alliance will ensure meaningful participation by underserved producers through a variety of mechanisms. These are tightly linked to RIPE’s longer-term goals around equity, as well as being in line with reaching the USDA’s Justice40 goals.
The program will:
- Ensure that 40% of producers enrolled in the pilot qualify as historically underserved, including producers who are socially disadvantaged, veterans, limited-resource, women, small and/or growing specialty crops. This is in line with the Justice40 Initiative.
- Allocate 5% of funds for socially disadvantaged producers and 5% for limited-resource producers in each partner state.
- Assess outreach plans and conservation district proposals in each pilot state to ensure that historically underserved producers live within the chosen districts, are aware of the project and are encouraged to apply. Equity producer groups will also be engaged nationally and at the state level to evaluate conservation district proposals and outreach plans.
- Guarantee that limited-resource producers, socially disadvantaged producers and producers from female-only operations automatically qualify for an “equity payment” valued at 25% of the baseline $100 per unit, or a total of $125 per unit and provide a minimum payment of $500 to operations with fewer than 5 acres.
- Equip producer groups, including equity-oriented groups, to host stakeholder roundtables in pilot states, soliciting producer feedback on program design and pilot participation.