Enrollment for incentive payments for regenerative grazing and climate-smart fieldscapes begins this month. The program is part of a $25 million USDA grant to the University of Missouri. This is the second year of a five-year project that will provide $17.5 million in incentive funds to farmers and ranchers in Missouri. Rob Myers, director of the University of Missouri’s Center for Regenerative Agriculture says, To date, about 900 farmers have participated in the CRCL project.
The regenerative grazing program offers payments of $50 per acre for Missouri farmers who develop management plans for prescribed grazing on eligible pastures. Another option focuses on small and underserved farmers who implement three or more climate-smart practices appropriate to their farms; the participants also need to be willing for their farms to serve as demonstration sites for those practices. Participants in the climate-smart field scapes portion of the program can receive up to $10,000 over three years.