Press Release | September 14, 2022

Two Projects Involving the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund to Receive Funding Through USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Initiative

Up to $185 Million in Total Funding Will Support Thousands of Farmers, Including Those in Underserved Communities

Media Contacts:
Laura Orris: 309-798-4460, laura@theoutcomesfund.com
Adam Kiel: 515-334-1022, adam@theoutcomesfund.com
Dan Yeoman: 202-507-1312, yeoman@theoutcomesfund.com 

ANKENY, IA and WASHINGTON, DC—The Soil and Water Outcomes Fund today announced its involvement on two of the projects awarded funding through the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative.

The two projects are the Midwest Climate-Smart Commodity Program (with an approximate funding ceiling of $95 million) and the U.S. Climate-Smart Cotton Program (with an approximate funding ceiling of $90 million). Nationwide, only 14 projects were awarded with approximate funding ceilings of $70-$95 million from the more than 1,000 applications received by USDA.

Midwest Climate-Smart Commodity Program Details

This project will build markets and provide funding to farmers via outcome-based contracts for the reduction and removal of carbon dioxide through the adoption of new climate-smart practices. The remaining project funding will support farmer enrollment assistance, carbon quantification, technical assistance support, measurement, reporting and verification, and underserved farmer outreach and enrollment.
$95 million in funding; 12 focus states

U.S. Climate-Smart Cotton Program

The Soil and Water Outcomes Fund is collaborating with this project’s lead, The U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol, as the contracted Ecosystem Service Market Provider (ESMP). In this capacity, we will provide measuring/quantification, monitoring, reporting, and verification (MMRV) and tracking for the U.S. Climate-Smart Cotton Program.

Interested farmers can learn more and enroll in the Cotton Trust Protocol at www.TrustUSCotton.org.

What Our Partners Are Saying

Jim Andrew
Chief Sustainability Officer
PepsiCo

“Scaling regenerative agriculture will be key to tackling climate change and is a central pillar our PepsiCo Positive (pep+) transformation. The USDA grant and our partnership with the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund will catalyse action to capture up to 3.75 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by scaling proven solutions to reduce and sequester emissions at the farm gate. Ultimately this will play a key role in building the resilience of the food system across American farmlands.”

 

Mike Naig
Secretary
Iowa Department of Agriculture

“We appreciate USDA’s investment in the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund which we’ve been proud to partner on for the past two years. This project is a great example of providing farmers and landowners with the tools they need and incentivizing them to protect our water, soil, and natural resources. As we continue to scale up and accelerate the adoption of proven conservation practices, this project highlights one of the many innovative approaches underway with public and private partners in Iowa to help achieve the water quality and soil health goals outlined in the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy.”

Messages from Our Team

Adam Kiel
Managing Director, Soil and Water Outcomes Fund

Dan Yeoman
Managing Director, Soil and Water Outcomes Fund

“This is an exciting day for U.S. agriculture and for the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund,” said Dan Yeoman, co-managing director of the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund. “As a farmer-driven program, we are humbled by USDA’s Climate Smart funding awards and the support it will bring for producers adopting new climate-smart practices. We are grateful to the participating SWOF farmers who helped build this program and thankful for our partners who have come together to execute this ambitious and critical vision. We’re excited to get started.”

“We are thrilled that USDA and Secretary Vilsak selected two Soil and Water Outcomes Fund projects among the inaugural Climate-Smart Commodity projects,” said Adam Kiel, co-managing director of the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund and executive vice president of AgOutcomes. “We look forward to working with more farmers, in more areas, with the USDA funding and the private matching funding we have been able to attract.”

The Soil and Water Outcomes Fund is widely regarded as the most farmer-friendly ecosystems services offering on the market today because of its ease of enrollment, simple contracting, local support from conservation agronomists, and industry-leading farmer payments.

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