STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State is seeking more than 100 Pennsylvania dairy farms to receive assistance in planning and implementing practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The university, the Center for Dairy Excellence and their collaborators are offering the aid through a $25 million USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant.
Farmers can get help reducing methane produced by the cows and manure storage, and cutting nitrous oxide emissions from cropland, said Matt Royer, the director of Penn State’s Agriculture and Environment Center.
Royer spoke at the Penn State Climate Solutions Symposium on May 15 at The Penn Stater.
The project, in Year 1 of 5, is known as CARAT, for climate-smart agriculture that is profitable, regenerative, actionable and trustworthy.
CARAT will provide 150 dairy farms with technical assistant to create voluntary climate-smart farming plans. The plan will include ideas for reducing the farms’ greenhouse gas emissions.
About 70 of the farms will receive funding to implement a practice or two selected from their personalized climate plans.
And 12 of those farms will be selected for detailed before-and-after emissions measurements.
The project will also explore ways for farmers to get carbon credits for their work.
About 40 farms have been recruited so far, Royer said.
The project is modeled on the Center for Dairy Excellence-funded dairy teams that help farms with profitability and business planning, he said.
Matt Royer, director of Penn State's Agriculture and Environment Center, speaks about the university's climate-smart dairy grant on May 15, 2024, in State College, Pa. Joining him are Scott Welsh, managing partner at Fieldstone Innovations, and Jayne Sebright, the executive director of the Center for Dairy Excellence.
CARAT organizers want to work with farms of all sizes across the state.
Of the 70 farms selected to implement climate-smart practices, those with fewer than 200 cows will get up to $75,000 apiece.
Farms with 200 to 499 cows will each get up to $141,000, while larger farms will get up to $250,000.
Like many dairy investments, methane-reducing feed additives and systems that flare manure gases can come with a steep cost to farmers.
“It will be seed money. It will not cover the cost, depending on what they choose, but it’s incentive to implement change,” said Jayne Sebright, the executive director of the Center for Dairy Excellence.
The project also has a goal of reaching underserved farmers.
In addition to racial minorities, underserved farms in CARAT include farms with women as owners or managers, and farms in northern and western Pennsylvania where dairy infrastructure is thin.
Even so, many participating farms may end up hailing from southeastern Pennsylvania because that region has the most dairies, Royer said.
The project also seeks to engage with Plain Sect farmers, he said.
USDA has allocated $3 billion for 140 climate-smart partnerships nationwide.
U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack visited Penn State to announce the first round of projects, including CARAT, in 2022.
To apply for assistance from CARAT, go here.
