Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins is canceling the Biden-era USDA Climate Smart Program, calling it a “slush fund.”
It is being renamed and comes with major changes in how the money is spent.
Secretary Rollins says her Department went through the Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodoties program line by line and found farmers and ranchers were being left with little help after various fees. She has renamed the program the Advancing Markets for Producers initiative.
USDA will review any exisitng grants, making sure they meet certain critera. The largest being 65 percent of federal dollars must go to producers.
Rollins says the prior program was largely built as a “green new scam” that did not benefit American farmers.
Related Stories
Global agriculture is stabilizing after years of price swings, with flat to modestly rising returns expected as productivity offsets slower demand growth.
Export volumes remain positive year-to-date, but weaker soybean loadings and slowing wheat movement hint at early bottlenecks in global demand or river logistics. Farmers should watch basis levels and freight conditions as export competition heats up.
Farmers who rely on H-2A workers will see a few key changes to speed up the process and make it fairer. On the ground, producers say labor issues create shortfalls in otherwise productive harvests.
Imported lean beef continues to play a critical role in U.S. hamburger and ground-beef production, with any added volume from Argentina serving as a supplement — not a market overhaul.
Margin Protection and the new MCO add county-level margin tools — with earlier price discovery, input cost triggers, and high subsidy rates — to complement on-farm risk plans for 2026.
Until a phased reopening is inked, plan for tighter feeder availability, firmer basis near border yards, and continued reliance on domestic and Canadian sources.