A Vibrant Future

Notice: _On April 14, 2025, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the cancellation of the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities (PCSC). The USDA plans to reform the program into the Advancing Markets for Producers (AMP) initiative. Contact your local USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) for more information on how to apply to the AMP initiative. _

Pilot Projects for Climate-Smart Fruit and Vegetable Production, Marketing, and Valuation of Ecosystem Services

This project will incentivize growers of specialty crops to adopt climate-smart production using practices like tillage management, alley cropping, water management and soil amendments, in order to establish consumer-driven climate-smart markets for fruits and vegetables grown using climate-smart practices. The project aims to develop tools for marketing climate-smart commodities that will be suitable for specialty crop growers, and could be adoptable by the larger ag industry.

This would include a consumer-focused “climate-smart seal” to be affixed to fruits and vegetables and/or traceable and tradeable “climate-smart benefits bundles (CSBB)” that growers can use in financial transactions.

IFPA is recruiting growers of specialty crops most amenable to sustainable and regenerative practices in either California or Washington State.

Examples of eligible specialty crops:

• Annuals: Strawberries, tomatoes, carrots, onions, broccoli, kale, specialty greens, sweet potatoes

• Perennials (Short-Lived): Blueberries, cane berries

• Perennials (Long-Lived): Vineyards, Orchards

Financial incentives for participation (cash incentives to offset the costs of implementing regenerative practices):

• $28,000 maximum yearly payment — total combined maximum earning potential per year for participating growers.

• $10,000 direct cost reimbursement — maximum per year for materials, labor, testing, equipment, and rentals.

• $5,000 participation flat rate — upon completion of onboarding, baseline data, and reporting requirements.

• Plus a $500 bonus per acre up to 26 acres (not to exceed $13,000 per operation).

Growers receive 90% reimbursement while the remaining 10% is treated as a cost share.

• Webinar for growers