Source: Chris Clayton, PROGRESSIVE FARMER, 10/7/21

A coalition of agricultural organizations, backed by funding from a handful of foundations, has formed a new group to champion the creation of a voluntary USDA climate change program to pay farmers $100 an acre or more to apply conservation practices on their farms. Calling themselves Rural Investment to Protect our Environment (RIPE), the group seeks minimum $100 per-acre payments under what they call the RIPE100 plan that would "reward farmers for the total public value of their conservation practices." Going beyond carbon sequestration, the group said, "the voluntary federal program would pay for improved soil health, cleaner water, biodiversity and other environmental services."

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