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Money that farmers counted on to move farm projects forward has dried up.
The Trump administration’s freeze of previously approved farm projects is taking a financial toll on farm groups that are working with farmers to install those projects.
Pasa Sustainable Agriculture, which received $55 million in 2023 to lead a climate-smart farming project across 15 states, recently announced that it was furloughing 60 employees attached to its project starting April 1.
Meanwhile, New Jersey Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) recently announced that due to the ongoing federal funding freeze, it would suspend further implementation of previously approved farm programs.
All this is related to the Trump administration’s freeze of Inflation Reduction Act funding previously approved under the Biden administration. This includes $3.1 billion to fund 141 projects under the Climate Smart Commodities program.
Although at least two federal courts have ordered the administration to release those funds, the issue is mired in the federal court system pending appeals, and it is not clear when, or if, the funds will ever be released.
On Feb. 20, USDA announced the release of $20 million in IRA funding for contracts under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Conservation Stewardship Program and Agricultural Conservation Easement Program.
The department stated that additional funding announcements were forthcoming. But it also reiterated that it wanted to ensure programs are “focused on supporting farmers and ranchers, not DEIA programs or far-left climate programs.”
Hannah Smith-Brubaker, Pasa’s executive director, says the situation is the most serious the organization has ever faced.
Pasa was a big recipient of Climate Smart Commodities program funding, one of only nine projects nationwide to get more than $50 million over five years to install “climate-smart” practices on farms: everything from cover cropping to hedgerow planting, reduced tillage to silvopasturing. It was the lead organization of a project that included at least 20 farming organizations in 15 states.
The funding allowed it to hire staff to work with farmers to install practices and provide technical assistance. Smith-Brubaker says it provided $1.87 million in funding to 143 farms, with an additional $1.7 million in shovel-ready projects awaiting signature and funding.
Pasa paid 75% of upfront costs to farmers to get projects started, with farmers providing 25%, which would get reimbursed pending an inspection. But the funding freeze has stopped the program in its tracks. She says the organization scrambled to verify and sign off on 118 projects to reimburse $500,000 to farmers, the last remaining IRA funds it had.
"But when you're put into the position of either making farmers whole or retaining employees, and you make the farmers whole, you do have to start tapping into your rainy-day fund to try to keep employees for a little bit longer,” Smith-Brubaker says. "A rainy-day fund is for an emergency, not for forever, and that's what we're kind of in the position of now. We wanted to give our employees a month notice for furloughs and have them be able to have their health insurance for an extra month.
"All that the federal government is doing by not honoring these contracts is saying to the farmer, ‘You can't trust us,’” she adds. "We leveraged our relationships on behalf of the USDA, and USDA is not honoring their side of the bargain, and farmers are just so upset.”
Laura Tessieri, executive director of New Jersey RC&D, says the funding freeze has affected three programs the organization runs: the Regenerative Farm Network, the Grazing Initiative and the Farmers Accessing REAP project.
The Grazing Initiative, a five-year program with 20 farms, aims to expand grazing and local markets for grass-fed beef. It funded things such as fencing and watering systems to improve rotational grazing systems.
Lima Family Farms in Hillsborough, N.J., which operates a 115-head cow-calf operation and raises 400 steers across 800 acres — 400 of which is owned, 400 owned by another farmer — got a five-year $60,000 cost-share grant to grow its cow-calf grazing operation by converting 40 acres of grass silage into rotational grazing paddocks. This included the installation of 1.25 miles of five-wire perimeter fence, 1 mile of aboveground irrigation piping to provide drinking water to the cows and 40 acres of cover crop seed.
“It was a great, great program because it was pretty comprehensive,” says Kate Kadri, the farm’s co-owner. The farm recently opened its own USDA-inspected slaughter facility where it can process 200 animals a year. More than 95% of its meat is sold on-farm in a store.
Kadri says she’s been looking at expanding the business, and the grant would have helped cover the cost of permanent fencing, which is quite expensive.
The aboveground irrigation project was completed last year, but the fencing, which will cost nearly $40,000 to install, is now on hold.
“No matter what side of the political aisle you are on, I think we all can agree there is an excess amount of subsidized corn, soy and wheat produced on the largest American farms,” Kadri says. “USDA grants such as the Grazing Initiative … were moving the needle in a direction that allowed a small- to medium-sized farm to convert their land into intensive grazing for ruminant animals. This greatly enhances soil quality and reduces chemical inputs, which saves the farm money and produces healthy food.”
Tessieri says many farms like Lima applied for and were counting on grant dollars to expand and improve their farming operations. Now, projects are on hold and may never get finished.
"They've made management decisions with this work in mind. And now they're left changing on a dime," she says. "It really erodes the trust. At the heart of it, that's what hurts the most.
"The trust thing is going to have repercussions throughout the years going forward. Why would a farmer now go ahead and sign up for EQIP? These are contracts. They should uphold them."
Source: Farmprogress.com
