Big money will soon be available for Minnesota farmers to fight climate change

KIMBALL, Minn. – There's big money for farmers to fight climate change and curb water pollution.   

There is $20 billion tucked inside the new Inflation Reduction Act, and Minnesota farmers will soon be able to apply for grants that they can use to purchase and install technology to help curb pollution.

Mill Creek Dairy in Kimball uses both a giant liquid holding tank and another holding area for solids to store manure and keep it from seeping into a culvert -- which flows into Mill Creek, which then flows to the Sauk River, and then on to the Mississippi River.

Sen. Tina Smith, a member of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee, toured the farm to see the kinds of technology that will be funded through federal grants from the Inflation Reduction Act.

"The biggest contributions to greenhouse gas emissions is the transportation sector and also the energy sector, but agriculture also makes a contribution, which is why it's so important that we're doing this kind of support," Smith said. 

Mill Creek Dairy was a pioneer. In 2015, it used $250,000 in federal funds to install holding areas. They not only curb pollution, but cut costs by making the ground ready to accept new crops.

"We're not taking a big tractor out there and tilling the ground. That probably takes 25 gallons an hour," said Mill Creek Dairy's Tom Gregory. "It's hard to convince some people. And they can see what a difference it makes."

It's all part of the Inflation Reduction Act's goal of cutting U.S. carbon emissions by 40 percent by the year 2030. Sen. Smith says Minnesota farmers can start applying for the grants as soon as early 2023, either via the USDA or the state of Minnesota.