Gov. Tim Walz announced Tuesday that the state will receive $200 million in grant funding to reduce food waste and climate pollution across the state.
Officials say the funds, which will begin coming in in October, will go to projects that will help decarbonize the food system while keeping Minnesotans fed, including electrifying farm vehicles, working with tribal governments to improve food sovereignty and restoring 10,000 acres of carbon-sequestering peatland.
Minnesota’s Climate Smart Food Systems project is led by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, which reports that agriculture is responsible for about 25 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.
“The reality of climate change in Minnesota has never been more apparent. Just look at our rainfall and we’ve also seen the warmest winter on record,” said MPCA Commissioner Katrina Kessler. “The magnitude of this $200 million investment shows the urgency with which we need to act.”
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Kessler said the state has five years to use the money, and while many programs and partners have already been identified across the state, there may be opportunities for more to apply.
The grants will also go toward programs that divert food waste from landfills and provide assistance to farmers, as well as new technology for food and organic waste processing facilities. Faith Krogstad, MPCA’s climate and energy coordinator, said she is especially excited about the grants for local food and tribal food sovereignty.
“This is really a locally-led way of setting up local projects to decarbonize the food system, save people money, reduce pollution, including air pollution and water pollution, and give people access to healthy food,” Krogstad said.
Governor Walz praised the plan for improving food security for low-income families while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“We know that if a child has a safe place to live and enough food in their stomach, they will have the opportunity to go to school, to learn and to grow,” he said.
The EPA grant program will fund 24 other state, tribal and local projects that are estimated to reduce greenhouse gas pollution by 971 million tons by 2050.
The program was created under President Joe Biden’s 2022 signature policy, the Inflation Reduction Act, and has been called the largest federal investment in combating climate change.
