Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack traveled to Pennsylvania last week to celebrate investing over $3 billion in 135 projects under the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities since its creation in September 2022.

Vilsack highlighted the initiative’s success to date, including:

– Enrollment of over 3.2 million acres of working land into climate-smart practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester carbon.
– Sequestered over 400,000 metric tons of carbon using a variety of direct measurement tools on the ground and testing nearly 50 different greenhouse gas models to verify results.
– Projects that have also produced low-carbon biofuels, including sustainable aviation fuel.

Among the projects Vilsack highlighted is the Iowa Soybean Association’s Midwest Climate-Smart Community Program, which now has over 1800 farms enrolled in climate-smart production. The resulting corn, soy, sugar beats and wheat supply insetting markets where corporate entities aim to reduce their greenhouse gas footprint.

Listen to Vilsack’s remarks:
Vilsack in Hershey, PA (26:41)