SWOF Partner Spotlight: Three Questions with USDA’s Katina Hanson

In each Tune Up Newsletter, we profile one team member, partner, or other SWOF affiliate to better understand their contribution to the program. In this edition, we sat down with Katina Hanson, Acting Senior Advisor for Climate-Smart Commodities, to spotlight our partnership with the USDA.

In September of 2022, the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund, in partnership with Iowa Soybean Association and other organizations, was awarded funds under USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities. Implementation of the 5-year project began in March of 2023.

Katina Hanson has worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture for more than 20 years and has a strong background in farm programs and policies. She previously served as the Chief of Staff for Policy and Programs and acting director of the Office of External Affairs for the Farm Service Agency, senior policy analyst in the Office of the Deputy Administrator for Farm Programs, and as the agency’s team lead for the Biofuels Infrastructure Partnership. In her current role, Katina applies skills culminated from her experiences in FSA, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, overseeing USDA’s Climate-Smart Commodities policy, staff and funding.

Katina Hanson, Acting Senior Advisor for Climate-Smart Commodities, USDA

First, can you provide our readers with a little summary background on the USDA’s Climate-Smart Commodities effort and its significance for agriculture and environmental stewardship?

USDA first announced details of the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities opportunity in February 2022 as part of their work to generate new climate-smart markets that incentivize the voluntary adoption of climate-smart agriculture, help American farmers create revenue, and support rural communities. The design of this funding opportunity was informed by hundreds of comments received in the Request for Information published in September 2021 on how to best support and incentivize climate-smart agriculture.

USDA received over 1,000 proposals from more than 500 groups, totaling over $20 billion in requests for funding. All Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities proposals were evaluated on the evaluation criteria from the funding opportunity, which is a very rigorous process.

Through this effort, USDA is financing partnerships to support the production and marketing of climate-smart commodities via a set of pilot projects lasting one to five years. USDA is investing more than $3.1 billion for approximately 140 projects nationwide. This effort will expand markets for America’s climate-smart commodities, leverage the greenhouse gas benefits of climate-smart commodity production, and provide direct, meaningful benefits to production agriculture, including for small and underserved producers.

What goals or milestones does the USDA hope to achieve through the Climate-Smart Commodities opportunity? How is the partnership with the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund contributing to that?

USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities aims to reach across U.S. agriculture and expand climate-smart markets. This opportunity will also enhance environmental sustainability, improve economic outcomes for producers, and contribute to broader climate goals.

Goals include expanded markets and revenue streams for farmers and ranchers and commodities across agriculture and forestry. USDA also estimates that more than 60 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent will be sequestered over the lives of the projects. This is equivalent to removing more than 12 million gasoline-powered passenger vehicles from the road for one year. Proposals for the 141 tentatively selected projects include plans to match on average 50% of the federal investment with non-federal funds.

The Soil and Water Outcomes Fund is showing great progress. Your program has a growing farmer network of several hundred farmers and an impressive data collection and MRV process. Your project also has many organizations and partners involved and we are confident in your ability to grow and create markets for climate-smart agriculture.

As the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities projects progress, how does the USDA plan to learn from the current projects and build on their success?

One of the purposes of Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities is to learn from different approaches and to support innovation. Through robust quarterly project reports, we are collecting quality data on what works and what doesn’t in certain areas.

USDA has also created the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Learning Network that is comprised of a designated representative from each awarded project. This allows for project leaders to collaborate and strategize on a range of topics related to the implementation of Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities.

The American agriculture sector has an incredible potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, sequester carbon, and deliver lasting solutions to help mitigate climate change and build resilience.

The Soil and Water Outcomes Fund would like to thank Katina Hanson for taking the time to speak with us for this spotlight piece. We encourage you to learn more about USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities  from their website.