By Brooke DeCubellis
As we welcome the new year, many have set resolutions to eat healthier, exercise more, save more money…the list goes on. For those whose New Year’s resolution is to reduce their carbon footprint, it may be as simple as taking a sip. So, celebrate the start of the new year with another toast – drinking sustainable spirits funded through USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities.
The department hopes to increase U.S. agriculture’s competitive advantage both domestically and internationally, building wealth in rural communities. These climate-smart projects support a diverse range of producers and operations as they voluntarily adopt climate-smart agricultural practices and market the resulting commodities.
The DeLong Co., Inc.’s “Grown Climate Smart” project is one of approximately 140 national projects that USDA has invested $3 billion to build and expand markets for commodities made with climate-smart practices. The DeLong Co., Inc., a family-run enterprise based in Clinton, Wisconsin, has 39 grain, export, agronomy, and seed locations throughout the United States and hopes to connect companies and customers seeking sustainable, climate-smart products, such as spirits, teas, and other food and drink ingredients to the company’s locally sourced and verifiable climate-smart grains.
“We’re leveraging the USDA’s funding to provide both financial and technical assistance to producers to help them overcome any barriers in implementing climate-smart practices – whether they need advice from our agronomy group because it’s their first time implementing the practices or they need help to overcome some of the costs of changing from a conventional operation,” said Matt Woods, The DeLong Co., Inc.’s Grown Climate Smart Program Manager.
In May 2023, the “Grown Climate Smart” brand was introduced, not only to farmers as a program to support the implementation of climate-smart production practices, but also as a product label in the retail space to identify ingredients to consumers interested in purchasing “Grown Climate Smart” products.
Consumers were able to sip their first “Grown Climate Smart” products in early 2024, thanks to a partnership between The DeLong, Co., Inc., Central Standard Craft Distillery, and local producer and miller Graham Adsit of Rooster Milling.
“I am both a farmer and an end user of climate-smart grains as a mill owner. And I know that there is legitimate demand for high-integrity, identity-preserved products that are grown under the best possible set of conditions that are climate smart,” said Graham Adsit, Rooster Milling Owner. “I get asked about it all the time. It makes or breaks a contract. They need to know that what I'm doing means something and has integrity behind it, much as the organic label does. And Grown Climate Smart is connecting with both direct consumers as well as farmers and processors.”
Adsit can meet most of Central Standard Craft Distillery’s grain needs, as he grows barley, oats, rye, and corn, which makes up the majority of the mashes that the distillery uses to produce its bourbon, whiskey, vodka, gin, and pour-ready cocktails.
“People do want to know what is happening with the products that are being made – how they are made and where do they come from,” said Pat McQuillan, Central Standard Craft Distillery Co-Founder and President. “That’s why we have the ‘Grown Climate Smart’ label on our products – it helps our customers know that there is that integrity to our products and we’re involved in a program that’s helping small farms grow sustainably.”
Graham Adsit is not only participating in The DeLong Co., Inc.’s “Grown Climate Smart” as a mill owner, but also as a producer. His base of operations for both farming and milling is located in southeast Wisconsin. He grows both conventional and organic grains, including corn, soybean, wheat, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, and canola. To Adsit, enrolling in the “Grown Climate Smart” program made financial sense.
“I am being validated and compensated for practices that I know work and are climate-smart. For example, cover crops are absolutely necessary in organic operations for fertility management, erosion management, nutrient cycling, and weed suppression,” he said. “But the great thing is that this is an a la carte program that allows you to figure out what's going to work on your farm. Each one of these practices, it’s going to be paid for. And it's not just barely paid for - it's well paid for.”
Since 2023, the “Grown Climate Smart” project has enrolled over 200 growers from eight different states, covering more than 360,000 acres dedicated to sustainable farming practices. Through direct incentive payments on a per-acre-basis, growers can continue or start implementing cover crops, reduced or no-till, nutrient management plans, and windbreak establishment or renovations.
By implementing a comprehensive system of climate-smart practices, producers are also improving overall land health and reaping additional environmental benefits such as soil health, water quality, reduced erosion, and increased biodiversity and wildlife habitat. The climate-smart practices also benefit cash crops.
“We’ve been reducing the intensity of inputs on our farm – whether it’s herbicide, fuel, fertilizer, phosphates. And what I’m noticing is even though we've reduced the total amount of nitrogen applied, our plant health is better because we're matching the plant requirements with the nitrogen availability from crop residue because we’re a no-till operation,” Adsit said.
One of the additional benefits of participating in the “Grown Climate Smart” program funded through USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities is access to large-scale climate-smart data that can help inform farm management decision-making. Adsit, who is also a U.S. Air Force veteran and cardiac electrophysiologist, appreciates the emphasis on data collection – to ensure that his farm practices are science-based.
“The truth be told, every year, farmers always think, ‘what should I have done differently?’ And the nice part about the ‘Grown Climate Smart’ program is we have a huge data set to see whether there are statistically significant changes in implementing these practices and validating them,” he said. “That’s something that comes very naturally as a doctor's thinking in terms of best practice, which always evolves as new methods are learned and proven to be good. Best practices will continue to evolve, so we won't have one answer that lasts forever. We'll have one good answer that worked for this time period, and then we'll keep adding to it.”
Since 1913, The DeLong Co., Inc. has been a pioneer in the agricultural industry, providing best-in-class grain trading, exports, agronomy, seed, crop insurance, transportation, and wholesale services. As it builds on the “Grown Climate Smart” brand, the company hopes to begin producing products like tortilla chips, flour, and bread.
“Moving forward, we want to connect with consumers who want climate-smart products that they can trust as well as a connection to the producers who grew the grain sustainably,” Matt Woods said. “We’re working to generate more consumer awareness with the brand, which will determine the long-term viability of this program and hopefully generate premiums for the producers that we work with so that they can reap the benefits of that good stewardship.”
By supporting a diverse range of producers and operations, USDA and its partners are innovating a number of climate-smart solutions that impact numerous natural resource concerns while also strengthening rural economies by diversifying revenue streams. The USDA also released a progress report highlighting the successes of Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities.
Since the launch of the $3 billion effort, USDA and its partners have enrolled more than 21,000 farms encompassing over 5.2 million acres of working land into climate-smart practices. The resulting climate-smart commodities are starting to hit the shelves, including beef, coffee, almonds, rice, dairy products, and 49 other products.
To learn more about The Delong Co., Inc.’s Grown Climate Smart project and other Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities projects, visit the project dashboard. Interested producers can learn more about projects in their state by commodity type and climate-smart practice implementation and can access project sign-ups via the site.
Source : farmers.gov