Farmer-owned cooperative Blue Diamond Growers says it has launched the second year of enrollment for its $45 million Climate-Smart Commodities Grant this month. The grant, awarded by the USDA, provides farmers funding to implement climate-smart practices on-farm including planting cover crops, conservation cover and hedgerows.
Blue Diamond says its farmer-members planted more than 17,000 acres of almond orchards with cover crops and more than 100 conservation covers in the first year of the project. Earlier this month, the cooperative began accepting applications from its approximately 3,000 farmer-owners for the second year of activities, which are supported by grant partners Project Apis m. and Pollinator Partnership, according to a news release.
The grant is part of the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program aimed at equipping farmers with the resources and incentives needed to further sustainable practices on farms. Through this grant, Blue Diamond has provided almost $800,000 in funds for seeds and incentive payments for 91 farmers in the first year, the release said.
The cooperative estimates the total acres of almond orchards implementing pollinator habitat practices through the grant would be large enough to cover the island of Manhattan.
“This grant is an important piece of Blue Diamond’s sustainability story, and we are proud of our first-year successes,” Dan Sonke, head of sustainability for Blue Diamond Growers, said in the release. “We are thankful for our partnership with the USDA as we invest in the future of agriculture and assist our farmers with implementing these critical practices.”
The grant expands Blue Diamond’s current sustainability efforts, including the cooperative’s flagship Orchard Stewardship Incentive Program, which began providing incentive payments to participating farmers in the 2020 crop year. Through the OSIP, Blue Diamond said it provided millions of dollars in incentives, and today more than 57% of Blue Diamond member acreage is participating in the program.
“Blue Diamond has always been synonymous with quality because of our commitment to producing the best product possible,” Carmen Bourgaize, chief commercial officer for Blue Diamond Growers, said in the release. “This commitment continues through our investment in sustainability and in turn, increases our value proposition because our retail and manufacturing customers know they are receiving almonds that are not only safe and high-quality but are supported by important on-farm stewardship initiatives.”
