USDA Releasing $20 Million of Frozen Conservation Funds

By Ryan Hanrahan

Reuters’ P.J. Huffstutter reported that “the U.S. Department of Agriculture will release approximately $20 million in funding for previously approved contracts that had been frozen by the Trump administration’s push to overhaul the federal government, the agency said late on Thursday.”

“The sum represents a tiny sliver of program funding the USDA suspended after the White House’s broad freeze of federal loans and grants last month. Although the administration rescinded the memo ordering the freeze and it has been blocked in court, a U.S. judge has said the government was still withholding funds,” Huffstutter reported. “USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said the released funds will go to honor contracts that were already made directly with farmers, according to a statement on the USDA’s website. The USDA is releasing $20 million in contracts for the Environmental Quality Incentive Program, the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, it said.”

“‘American farmers and ranchers are the backbone of our nation,’ said Rollins, citing regulatory burdens, environmental policies, and inflation as major challenges,” according to reporting from AgWeb’s Jim Wiesemeyer and Tyne Morgan. “She criticized the Biden administration’s handling of IRA funding but affirmed commitments to farmers who had already made investments. This marks the initial phase of released funding, with further announcements expected as USDA continues its review to ensure taxpayer dollars support farmers and ranchers rather than unrelated initiatives.”

“Earlier this week, while speaking at the Top Producer Summit in Kansas City, AgriTalk’s Chip Flory asked about the paused IRA funding, specifically the status of EQIP,” Wiesemeyer and Morgan reported. ‘”Any commitments that were made previously, we will, of course, fulfill those commitments,” Rollins told Flory,” according to Wiesemeyer and Morgan. “‘That’s the only way to do it. Everything that is forward leaning, that’s what we’re really focusing on reevaluating in the current environment.'”

Funds Had Been Frozen for Weeks

Reuters’ P.J. Huffstutter and Leah Douglas first reported on Feb. 8 that “the U.S. Department of Agriculture has frozen some funding for farmers as it goes through a sweeping review, despite assurances from the Trump administration that programs helping farmers would not be affected in the government overhaul. The impact has been immediate and wide-ranging, from cash assistance for ranchers to fix cattle watering systems to help for corn growers wanting to plant cover crops that curb wind erosion.”

“Some of the money that has been frozen is tied to environmental conservation programs that were funded by former President Joe Biden’s signature climate law, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which included about $19.5 billion for farm programs over 10 years,” Huffstutter and Douglas reported. “The White House said its January 27 proposal to freeze federal loans and grants would not affect programs for farmers. The administration rescinded its proposal and it has been temporarily blocked in court. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.”

The freeze had even brought some individual farmers to the forefront, including 27-year-old Skylar Holden, a first-generation cattle producer in eastern Missouri. Progressive Farmer’s Chris Clayton reported at the time that Holden had posted multiple videos to TikTok “detailing how he signed a contract with NRCS … for $240,000 and now has $80,000 in material purchased and signed contracts to install water lines. Holden said he was told the contract was frozen and nobody knows when the money could be released.”