CULTIVATING SUSTAINABILITY
Blue Diamond Launches Year Two of USDA Climate Smart Grant This May, Blue Diamond launched the second year of enrollment for the $45 million Climate Smart Grant (CSG). The CSG, which was awarded to Blue Diamond by the USDA, provides farmers with funding to implement climate- smart practices on-farm, including planting cover crops, invest in the future of agriculture and assist our farmers with implementing these critical practices.”
The Climate Smart Grant expands Blue Diamond ’s current sustainability efforts, including the cooperative’s flagship Orchard Stewardship Incentive Program (OSIP), which began providing incentive payments to participating farmers in the 2020 crop year. Through OSIP, Blue Diamond has provided millions of dollars in incentives to farmers and has the most acres in an almond sustainability program in the world. Today, over 57% of Blue Diamond member acreage is participating in OSIP. The Climate Smart Grant will bolster Blue Diamond ’s farmers to employ practices that support the good stewardship of their orchards. “ Blue Diamond has always been synonymous with quality because of our commitment to producing the best product possible,” said Carmen Bourgaize, Chief Commercial Officer. “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.”
conservation cover and hedgerows. Blue Diamond ’s farmers planted more than 17,000 acres of cover crop within their almond orchards and over 100 acres of conservation cover in the first year of the CSG. The Climate Smart Grant is part of the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program, which works to equip farmers with the resources and incentives needed to further their sustainable practices on-farm. Through this grant, Blue Diamond has provided members with almost $800,000 in funds for seeds and incentive payments for 91 farmers in the first year. 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,” said Dr. Dan Sonke, Sr. Director of Sustainability. “We are thankful for our partnership with the USDA as we
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ALMOND FACTS
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