USFCR Blog

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), through the Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBCS), is offering over $123 million towards an expansion program related to meat and poultry processing.

According to the USDA’s 99th Annual Agricultural Outlook Forum, there was an estimated 3.09 billion pounds of total beef exports expected to decline. Also, commercial beef production was forecasted to decline by 6 percent, to 26.5 billion pounds.¹ The Processing Expansion Program will assist meat and poultry producers in expanding their current capacity and ensure that the proper safety measures are followed in accordance with the USDA.

"A grove of giant redwood or sequoias should be kept just as we keep a great and beautiful cathedral."
—Theodore Roosevelt   

The USDA Forest Service will be offering funds towards the conservation of open spaces and community forests through its Community Forest Program (CFP). These areas must be protected in order to provide various environmental, educational, recreational, and economic benefits within the targeted communities. 

Ecological restoration has been defined as “the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed.” Traditional perspectives and TEK provide insights into hidden or lost ecological diversity and relationships that tribes have had with their environments.
— Jonathan W. Long, et. al; Ecopsychology ¹

The U.S. The Department of Agriculture (USDA), through the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), is offering a program to promote rural economic communities and climate-resilient landscapes. It will focus on specialty crop issues on the regional and national levels in the areas of food safety, marketing and promotion, research, investigations on pests and diseases, and crop-specific projects addressing various common issues. No federal cost sharing or matching is required.

Marine mammals are important indicator species of ocean health. When they show signs of illness, they may be signaling changes in the marine environment that will be important to human health and the overall health of our ocean ecosystems. Monitoring the health of marine mammals, especially during a UME, can reveal emerging threats, potential impacts of human activities, and the effectiveness of management actions.
— National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries (1)   

The number of wildfires occurring in the United States over recent years has led to great destruction of land and properties, and risked the lives of people located in susceptible areas. According to the Congressional Research Service, there was an average of 61,410 wildfires and 7.2 million acres of land burned across the United States from 2013 to 2022. (1)

Rural areas across the country are facing issues of aging and declining infrastructure, buildings, and equipment that have widespread consequences for both the economy and the environment. For many farmers and small business owners, energy-inefficient equipment and infrastructure can drastically raise the cost of doing business, placing a further burden on these firms to be financially successful. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has begun accepting new applications for their Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP), designed to expand and “significantly increase” the availability of alternative fuels. This program is a part of the overall national initiative to both solidify America’s energy independence and increase the supply of renewable energy sourced from US agricultural products. 

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is accepting applications for their Climate Smart Humanities Organizations program, distributing a total of $6,000,000 of funds to humanities organizations needing to improve conservation practices of materials while also being ecologically-efficient. Humanities organizations interested in this opportunity shall contemplate strategies to their daily operations that help reduce their carbon footprint as a result of climate change.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity in the amount of $400,000,000 in funds to be released to school districts for the purpose of delivering electric bussing technology for students and communities across the United States.

This initiative is a part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s effort to transition the Nation toward low-emissions technologies, particularly in the transportation and automotive sectors.