Sunday, March 16, 2025
HomeMoney MattersSTOP WORK NOW!

STOP WORK NOW!

If you have a contract for a conservation or other project with the Natural Resources Conservation Service please check the funding source. If your contract was funded under the EQIP-IRA or the CSP-IRA, your funding is coming through the Inflation Reduction Act and you will not be paid for the work in the near future, and you may never get paid. You should do everything you can to stop work on those projects now.

What’s Happening

Bill Fosher writes in his substack, “If you signed one of these contracts, it appears that payments are currently suspended. Farmers and forest stewards across the US are being told, one contract at a time, that, yes, they have completed the work items in the contract according to NRCS standards and specifications, but no, they will not be receiving the promised cost share payment because the funds (or payment process, same outcome) have been frozen.”

I encourage you to read both of Bill’s posts for more information:

Check your NRCS Agreements
Stop work now

You can also read more about this from these sources:

https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/…/usda-freezes…/

https://sustainableagriculture.net/…/release-unlawful…/

But wait, there’s more…

It seems a lot is going on in the Ag world that has farmers on edge. Another agriculture writer has collected a list of issues and concerns. Here are a few from her article:

Lost Contracts to Canada

Cotton and grain growers are losing contracts to long-time Canadian buyers because, even with the tariff pause, Canadian buyers don’t trust the stability of U.S. export commerce with Trump in office. Plus, Canadians are angry and avoiding U.S.-made/produced goods, including farm products.

SOURCES:
https://x.com/cturnbull1968/status/1886862409798967425

https://www.cbc.ca/…/as-more-people-buy-canadian-these…

Increasing Input Prices

Chuck Grassley is asking the Administration to exempt potash from any Canadian tariffs because U.S. potash (a major fertilizer in agriculture) mainly comes from Canada. Impending tariffs will shoot farmers’ fertilizer prices sky-high.

SOURCES:

https://thehill.com/…/5123701-us-imposes-tariffs-on…/

Cancelled Government Grants

The Trump Administration canceled all of Biden’s Climate Smart grants to farmers to help them offset their adoption of soil health practices like no-till and cover cropping.
SOURCES:

https://soygrowers.com/…/soy-growers-urge-climate…/

https://www.bloomberg.com/…/soy-farmers-urge-trump-to…

$2 Billion In Annual Commodity Crop Sales Lost

USAID’s cancellation cuts $2 billion straight out of U.S. farmer’s pockets from the Food for Peace program which purchased rice, wheat, corn and soy from U.S. farmers and distributed them to hungry nations. In some states and for some crops, USAID was their primary buyer.
SOURCES:

https://www.dtnpf.com/…/02/03/usaid-tie-agriculture-usda

https://www.wbur.org/here…/2025/02/06/usaid-kansas-farmers

https://www.cjonline.com/…/what-does-usaid…/78300587007/

Organic Farmer Funds Frozen

The USDA is also withholding funds for the Organic Market Development Grant program and the Transition to Organic Partnership Program. These funds typically go directly to organic farmers or to non-profits supporting organic farmers.

SOURCES:

https://www.eenews.net/…/usda-pauses-2-organic…/

Sustainable Agriculture Health Research Funds Lost

K State University lost up to $50 million that was pledged through a USAID Program over the next five years to advance research in “sustainable intensification,” an approach focused on increasing crop yields without expanding agricultural land use, expected to directly benefit Kansas (and U.S.) farmers.
SOURCES:

https://thisistopeka.com/…/k-state-losses-50-million…/

Forewarned is forearmed so I hope this information is useful to you.

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Kathy Voth
Kathy Vothhttps://onpasture.com
I am the founder, editor and publisher of On Pasture, now retired. My career spanned 40 years of finding creative solutions to problems, and sharing ideas with people that encouraged them to work together and try new things. From figuring out how to teach livestock to eat weeds, to teaching range management to high schoolers, outdoor ed graduation camping trips with fifty 6th graders at a time, building firebreaks with a 130-goat herd, developing the signs and interpretation for the Storm King Fourteen Memorial trail, receiving the Conservation Service Award for my work building the 150-mile mountain bike trail from Grand Junction, Colorado to Moab, Utah...well, the list is long so I'll stop with, I've had a great time and I'm very grateful.

6 COMMENTS

  1. There is a lot going on within the NRCS, USDA, Federal Government. Many/most contract holders are unable to say what the funding source for their contract is. Half (roughly) of all contracts that are in place are not paused. Contact your local NRCS/USDA office to find out the status of your contract and hat you need/should/can do.

  2. Please quit spreading this kind of rhetoric..I dont need this from my Ag friends….yes the funds are frozen but contracts will be honored once the sec of ag is confirmed, which has not happened yet! once she is confirmed, assuming she will be, things will come around…may be delayed a bit…i have two of these contracts and am not worried at all, if they go away, i have aligned my finances so as NOT to depend on Gov. handouts….to a certain point i am glad they are diving deep and removing the slop, even if it affects me personally….we will be much better off in the future, and my kids future is brighter…so if need be ill take one on the chin for them!

    • Hi OP Readers,

      Mike is the Program Administrator (the person in charge) for the Crawford Soil and Water Conservation District in Ohio. As the person in charge of that office, he has some inside knowledge about what is going on with EQIP-IRA and CSP-IRA funds that most of us don’t. His comment confirms that the payments are indeed frozen.

      I have asked him to confirm how he knows that the funds will be forthcoming as that might be helpful. I’ve also asked for information about how his clients are managing with this delay. Farmers I’ve spoken to in other regions say they are heading to tight spots where they may not be able to pay their bills or buy supplies for the upcoming planting season if they don’t receive payment for their completed work. I also find it interesting that he applied for EQIP or CSP funds that he didn’t really need as he’s structured his finances to not need “handouts.” Perhaps others of you can tell me if this is a common practice? I personally have never considered these contracts to be “handouts” from the government as they ensure that farmers complete practices that ensure healthy landscapes that grow the food we all need. But, to each his own.

      Finally, I would add that freezing funds in this way is highly unusual. Federal programs, especially those tied to multi-year contracts like the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), generally continue operating unless explicitly restructured, defunded by Congress, or halted by a specific executive decision. None of this has happened so it is fair for those with contracts to expect payment in a timely fashion.

  3. Thanks, Pal.

    We finished two planting projects this week, one of them a CREP. We are scheduled to begin a major project this spring that will involve USDA/NRCS funding. All I’m trying to do is do good work, work that the American people want done.

    I guess we’ll see what happens.

  4. It’s a shame that the voters didn’t believe what he told them and also what he had put together in his project 25 program.

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