Since 1981, the United States has lost more than half a million farms, according to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.
Put in perspective, that’s about the current number of farms in 10 Midwestern states, Vilsack added. And 88% of American farmers work other jobs to make ends meet, Vilsack added.
To help ensure a self-sustaining agricultural economy, Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, announced $144 million in grants awarded to more than 500 projects in 44 states to generate new sources of farm income.
The grants include more than $120 million for 541 renewable-energy projects under the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), which is designed to help farmers, ranchers and small businesses save on energy costs through the construction and expansion of wind and solar electricity generation. Vilsack made the announcement during an event at the University of Nebraska at Omaha on Thursday. The program is funded by the federal Inflation Reduction Act.
Of those grants, 18 were awarded to operations in Nebraska, Vilsack said. A total of $1.3 million has been allocated to projects for wind, solar and energy-efficient developments.
The largest REAP grant in Nebraska was awarded to Norfolk financial firm McMill Inc. Per the USDA, the $500,000 grant will help the company install an energy-efficient HVAC system projected to save the business $25,200 in electrical costs per year and replace 491,000 kilowatt hours — 70% of the business’ annual energy use — per year, enough to power 45 homes.
Another sizable grant was awarded to Gering grocery store Fresh Foods. According to the USDA, the $212,147 grant will help the store install a 165-kilowatt solar array. The USDA document states the solar project is expected to save the business $15,800 in electrical costs per year and generate 230,700 kilowatt hours — 25% of the business’ energy use per year, enough to power 21 homes.
One grant specifically highlighted by the USDA of $164,250 was awarded to Darr Grain, a grain storage operation in Cozad. According to the agency’s press release, Darr Grain will use the grant to install three 15-kilowatt wind turbines.
The release said the wind turbines will help the grain storage business save $9,700 per year in electrical costs and generate more than 138,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually. The release added the 138,000 kilowatt hours will represent 77% of the company’s energy use — enough to power nine homes.
The electricity generated by renewable sources not only provide cheaper electrical sources but also could allow REAP grant recipients to sell any excess electricity generated.
The USDA also awarded a $3,962,33 grant to Omaha-based Bluestem Systems to help the company continue to remove water and pathogens from the manure and remaining solids to a dry fertilizer mix.
“The goal here, over time, is to encourage more renewable production and then to find a market for that production in addition to reducing the costs for a particular farm or ranch,” Vilsack said. “What we need to do is look for ways in which we can create vehicles for that excess energy to go on the grid (and) to reduce the cost to the REC (rural electric cooperative) or the municipal utility that’s providing the power in rural Nebraska and, eventually, reduced costs for all the customers of that REC or that municipal utility.”
The IRA is one in a series of major legislative pieces — others being the American Rescue Plan Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — by President Joe Biden to help ag producers and businesses survive in an era where they’re otherwise squeezed by big operations, Vilsack said.
Vilsack said the programs created through those laws, along with the preexisting Commodity Credit Corporation government program, are designed to give ag producers alternatives to “get big or get out.”
The energy-efficient methods outlined in REAP are part of an initiative of “climate smart practices” championed by the Biden administration.
In addition to the REAP grants, Vilsack highlighted the expansion of a program to stimulate domestic production of fertilizer. That need has been spurred since Russia, a main exporter of fertilizer, invaded Ukraine in 2022.
“We don’t want to be reliant solely on Russian and Belarus’ fertilizer,” Vilsack told the crowd.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack demonstrates the components of climate smart agriculture to an audience at the University of Nebraska at Omaha on Thursday.