In April 2025, the United States Department of Agriculture terminated a $59 million grant with the University of Idaho. Due to new federal administration, USDA now requires the Advancing Markets for Producers program allocate 65% of the grant directly to producers. Prior to this change, the program was called the Partners for Climate-Smart Commodities program.
UI resubmitted a proposal that met these new requirements over the summer. USDA requested that UI make further revisions, leading to the current standstill of the program.
“Up until the day of the government shutdown we were actively communicating and moving forward with the documents required to reestablish the project,” said Erin Brooks, professor in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, and co-director of the Innovative Agriculture and Marketing Partnership, in an email interview with The Argonaut.
IAMP was told by USDA that the next step in the process would be to move the project forward to contracting, which would take another 30 to 60 days.
“Although we have not been officially notified that the project can restart, we are optimistic that USDA will allow us the opportunity to restart the IAMP project sometime this winter.” Brooks said.
With the government shutdown, all activities related to restarting the project are on hold hich further postpones any potential restart to the project.
The renewed program will focus on seven of Idaho’s major commodities, which include barley, beef, chickpeas, hops, potatoes, sugarbeets and wheat, according to Amy Calabretta, interim director of communications and strategic initiatives for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
“While it will be disappointing if we are not refunded considering the time and efforts of so many, I am confident UI and our partners have made every effort to keep this important opportunity available to Idaho farmers and ranchers,” said Douglas Finkelnburg, a UI Extension educator and co-director of IAMP, in an email interview with The Argonaut.
The initial termination of the grant cut 26 on-campus positions, including 12 graduate students, who were reassigned to different projects. If the new application is accepted, some of these positions would be reinstated, including placements for five graduate students, one post-doctorate student, nine program support staff members and a maximum of 10 part-time staff, according to a previous story by The Argonaut.
Before the revised guidelines of the grant, UI directed 56% of their funds to producers, and the new application aims to allocate 66.2% of the grant to them.
IAMP partners with Latah County Soil and Water Conservation District, Nez Perce County Soil and Water Conservation District, The Nature Conservancy, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and Desert Mountain Grassfed Beef.
The grant program provides incentive payments for producers to adopt conservation practices or incorporate grazing plans which would improve the sustainability and long-term profitability of their farm, said Brooks.
“Our vision was that the partnership we created would extend beyond the end of the grant and would be a framework to continue collaborative work together,” Brooks said.
Rebekah Brown can be reached at [email protected].