Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve heard from many readers about the negative impacts of frozen funding and staff firings. It’s been heartbreaking to hear and even more disconcerting to realize that many in Washington don’t seem to understand how something so small to them can have such a large impact on the people growing our food.
In one instance, there may be cause for hope. Thanks to the alarms sounded by producers across the country some reimbursements may be on the way. It appears that $20 million in existing contracts funded through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will be honored and funds were unfrozen to pay those obligations. This tells me that farmers and ranchers have a degree of influence they shouldn’t be afraid to wield.
But as Mike Lavendar, policy director for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition says, “It’s a pittance.”
In 2023, farmers signed up for $850 million in IRA funds under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) and the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). An additional $3.1 billion for climate-smart agriculture projects also remains frozen. Contracts signed by the government in 2023 focused on assistance for underserved farmers and ranchers, reaching about 1,500 producers, encompassing over 1 million acres, and over 50,000 head of cattle. Small operations are especially hard hit by freezing funds for these contracts. According to USDA reporting, they make up the majority of participants in these programs.
Uncertainty over whether or not contracts will be honored is causing farmers and ranchers to rethink their operations.
“With this uncertainty, they are pulling out of farmers markets, canceling contracts already because they do not think they will have the capacity to meet them,” said Vanessa Garcia Polanco, government relations director for the National Young Farmers Coalition, an advocacy group for farmers and ranchers. “When all that funding is frozen, it sends a signal to them that their business plan is not safe.”
Other producers are reporting that they won’t be buying livestock they would have purchased since they can’t be certain their contracts with the government will be honored. While this is bad for farmers and ranchers, it’s also bad for any American consumer who likes to buy good food at reasonable prices.
Grants Being Cancelled
Other projects are falling to the DEI knife. As just one example, the President of the Mancos Conservation District in Colorado was notified last week that the $630,000 grant they had received was being withdrawn because it “no longer effectuates agency priorities regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and activities.” The only thing about DEI in the grant was one word in the title: “To reach underserved producers & provide a higher level of equity in access to conservation tech assistance, education, conservation planning services, and achieving sustainable conservation practices.”
If you missed it, the word is “equity.”
In reality, there was nothing DEI about the grant, which focused on supporting beginning farmers and ranchers, those who make less than $170,000 a year, and local Ute tribal members, as well as members of the community at large. Here’s a sampling of the work they were going to do:
- Create and distribute 2,000 copies of a “Rural Living Guidebook”
- Master Land Stewardship course on water land, soil forestry, and crop management,
- 12 workshops on everything from windbreaks to grazing to forage management,
- Conservation equipment demonstrations
- Mentor 30 high school students to encourage them to pursue careers in natural resources.
Even if funding is returned in the next 120 days, the President says he’ll already have had to lay off employees and dismantle the internal structures that made doing the work viable.
Staff Firings Add to Uncertainties
Hearing that a “probationary” employee has been fired leaves the impression that the person was a new hire with few important responsibilities. But when the NRCS lost 14% of its staff, what they lost were people who were actively providing technical assistance and support to landowners, farmers, and ranchers. Many fired NRCS staff worked in county offices, serving as the first point of contact for farmers seeking conservation programs and technical advice. They helped landowners develop customized conservation plans tailored to their specific land conditions. Just as importantly, they provided information about available federal conservation funding and helped farmers navigate the application process. The monitoring they did of contracted conservation practices was a key step in the process of making sure producers were reimbursed for their work.
Altogether, the loss of staff significantly impacted the NRCS’s ability to effectively deliver conservation programs, potentially slowing down progress on important environmental goals. Farmers in affected areas may have lost access to crucial technical expertise and assistance due to the staff reductions.
But the damage isn’t limited to the loss of probationary staff. This kind of turmoil is devastating to productivity and mental health. In an interview with Oregon Public Radiusiness school said, “I have never seen anything that from the outside looks so random, sloppy — the impact is intimidation and fear.”
It is already doing just that. Some staff who are worried about their futures have decided to either take the “buyout” offered by Elon Musk, or contemplate early retirement. One NRCS employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said that between firings and buyouts, some offices have lost all field staff. Farm Service Agency loans could also be at risk. It takes two years to train a new Farm Service Agency employee, and with 290 of them fired, we’ve lost all the investment in their training. That’s a problem because 40% of the Farm Service Agency’s employees are eligible for retirement and should they retire because their workplace becomes too stressful, it will become even more difficult for farmers and ranchers to borrow money to grow or maintain their operations. Even banks may become more reluctant to loan money to small operators when it’s difficult to know if the government will honor its contracts or not.
Hope
I hate being the bearer of bad news. So I want to take you back up to the last line in the second paragraph of this article: “…farmers and ranchers have a degree of influence they shouldn’t be afraid to wield.”
You may be less than 2% of the population but you’re holding the feed bag. That’s something that farmers across the world have used to ensure that they get the support and respect they deserve. You can also serve as voices for the things your community needs like wifi, hospitals and healthcare facilities and all the other things that make life better. But it only works if you all stand together and ask for what you need and want.
In the 1890s, farmers organized through “The Grange” and together were successful in getting railroads regulated in a way that improved farmers’ ability to ship goods and remain profitable. Perhaps it’s time for a new version. So I give you Will Westmoreland once again. He’s trying to organize farmers and rural communities to get what they need. You can reach him here and sign up for emails as his team gets things moving.
Finally, if you are an employee or manager affected by layoffs, you can share your story more widely here.
Sources:
https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/business-inputs/article/2025/02/21/usda-leaders-pour-frozen-contracts
https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2023/09/13/usda-celebrates-first-year-partnerships-climate-smart-commodities-market-opportunity
https://ers.usda.gov/sites/default/files/_laserfiche/publications/110560/EIB-283.pdf?v=37072
The NRCS Layoffs: Understanding the Cuts and the Misconceptions About Conservation
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/farmers-federal-funding-freeze-trump-administration-scramble-respond-rcna191544
https://www.opb.org/article/2025/02/24/mental-health-issues-ripple-through-the-federal-workforce-with-firings/
Local impacts of Forest Service firings, funding freezes and cuts
