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Many of the Withheld Funds are Reimbursements for Contracted Work
The opening weeks of the new administration in Washington, D.C. have been marked by an abrupt freeze on payments of federal financial obligations to a broad spectrum of individuals, companies and non-profit organizations. Farmers are among those hit earliest and hardest, especially those awaiting reimbursements for infrastructure improvements and climate-smart practices that they contractually undertook (and on which they spent their own money) under the previous administration.
Farm Aid, the non-profit that has been a leading voice for family farmers and a better food system for 40 years, is taking a strong stand in calling for the funding freeze to be lifted.
In a blog post published on its website on Monday (March 3), titled "Frozen Federal Funds Hurt Farmers," writers Jessica Kurn and Hannah Tremblay stated, "Tens of thousands of farmers and farmer-serving organizations have been thrown into limbo by an unprecedented freeze on federal payments that were under signed, lawful contracts."
They continued, "The executive orders include freezing Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) spending – a bipartisan infrastructure and climate bill passed by Congress in 2022 that funds a number of conservation programs farmers count on, including Regional Energy for America Program (REAP), Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Regional Conservation Partnerships (RCP) and Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP). Pausing these programs – many midway through contracts already in motion – hurts farmers and ranchers and erodes trust in the federal government."
The article is packed with details about the issues involved, with stories from farmers — including the Chicago region's Bartman Family Farm in Marengo, Illinois — about the devastating impact that the funding freeze is having on their businesses and families.
The article concludes, "These stories of farmers and farmer-serving organizations losing federal funding are only a few of the thousands from around the country. USDA’s withholding of payments owed under signed, lawful contracts is causing turmoil across our food system. Without intervention from Congress, the effects of the freeze are likely to compound and severely impact all aspects of our food system – from seed and soil, to farmer and consumer."
The article contains links to facilitate readers' outreach to their members of Congress and to submit personal stories to Farm Aid about the impact of the funding freeze.
I urge you to read and share this article, because this is an issue on which those of us who care about farmers and the sustainability of our food system need to be engaged.
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