Creating Climate-Smart Commodities through Enhanced Rock Weathering in Agricultural Settings

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. _

Project participants would use basalt dust instead of agricultural lime to increase soil pH through a method known as Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW), which speeds up a natural carbon sequestration process. Project funds would be used to cover all material, application, and monitoring costs for farmers as well as developing markets for the low-carbon carbon smart commodities grown by participating farmers.

The project plans to determine the extent to which this process can increase crop yields, reduce agricultural nitrous oxide emissions (N2O), and decrease fertilizer and lime costs, much of which may benefit underserved agricultural producers at a time of record high input costs and increasing economic pressures.