2-17-2025 4:07am

Funding Freeze May

Trump’s Funding Freeze Creates Chaos and Financial Distress for Farmers

Efforts to transition farms to regenerative agriculture are stalled, and the path forward is unclear.

By Lisa Held, civileats.com

Butterbee Farm, in Maryland, has received several federal grants that have been crucial for the farm’s survival. (Photo credit: L.A. Birdie Photography)

Over the past year, farmer Zach Wolf traveled around New York’s Hudson Valley visiting farms that range in size from 20 to 400 acres. The farms produce a variety of fresh foods—from fruits and vegetables to nuts and grass-fed beef—that are mostly sold directly to the region’s residents.

At each stop, Wolf helped farmers determine how they could adopt new regenerative practices to build healthier soil and increase biodiversity. Over time, those practices can help improve farms’ environmental and financial resilience while potentially also pulling carbon out of the air.

Some of the farmers decided to plant more cover crops or adopt prescribed grazing plans for healthier pastures. Others planned to plant trees that would provide shade for animals or hedgerows to restore habitat for pollinators.

Farm groups across the country report that the USDA has stopped their disbursements and has been silent about when the pause might end.

The work was all through Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming, which hired Wolf as the technical service provider for its portion of a five-year Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack invested $3.1 billion in the program under President Biden to spur climate action and make farms more resilient to the impacts of the changing climate.

However, organizations like Glynwood didn’t sign their grant contracts until 2023. After that, they invested time and money in hiring, planning, and enrolling farmers.

Now, many are at a pivotal point: Farmers are awaiting payments, but the funding is stalled.

On inauguration day, President Trump signed a series of executive orders that included directives to roll back Biden-era climate policies and projects. A subsequent broad pause in funding was stopped by a judge and later rescinded, and a judge ruled yesterday that the administration had failed to comply with the court order.

It’s unclear exactly how that process is linked to what’s happening at USDA, but farm groups across the country report that the agency has stopped their disbursements and has been silent about when the pause might end. Policy pros in D.C. say the assessment of grants and programs for links to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) FINISH READING HERE