During a busy week of farm policy events in Washington D.C. (and beyond) last week, USDA officials and staff pressed forward with business as usual, while some farmers tried to call attention to the billions of dollars in contracted funding they’re still waiting for.
At the NASDA Winter Policy Conference, the USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum, and the Commodity Classic, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins talked about her priorities, including fixing a challenging farm economy, supporting a new generation of young farmers, and getting disaster aid out the door. Her announcements included an update that, on March 20, the USDA will begin accepting farmer applications to receive some of the $10 billion in economic hardship assistance that Congress authorized last December. Rollins added that the USDA will begin distributing $20 billion in disaster assistance after that.
But just around the corner from NASDA, Kaitlyn Kimball was one of a group of farmers who traveled to Capitol Hill with the National Family Farm Coalition who said she can’t access $30,000 in funding she already signed a contract for, to implement conservation practices that will make her Connecticut fruit and vegetable farm more self-sufficient. “These programs are a form of risk management,” she said. “As a younger farmer, I’ve only farmed with the weather changing. I’m trying to adapt and make my business resilient, and I’m being punished for that.”
Rollins later announced she had released funds for those programs, but the USDA did not respond to a question as to whether that means all conservation program funding is now flowing, or if she was referring to the first sliver of $20 million released earlier. (And farmers told Civil Eats this week they’re still having trouble accessing any USDA funds.)
At the USDA Forum, Rollins gave a virtual keynote, during which participants rapidly upvoted an audience question about when more conservation funds might be released. “There are a lot of starting farmers that entered contracts (in a lengthy process) with the government that expect those partnerships and obligations to be met,” the participant wrote. Rollins ended the session without addressing any audience questions.
In another Forum session on hunger and nutrition, Artees Vannett, who works on economic development and regenerative agriculture for the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, raised his hand and asked about challenges his tribe was having accessing grant funds. The USDA employees appeared confused by the question and referred him to Rollins’ letter outlining her vision for USDA’s nutrition programs.
Afterwards, Vannett told Civil Eats the USDA owes the tribe $250,000 in reimbursements through the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Program and is also waiting on payments through a Local Food Purchase Assistance grant (neither of which are part of the bucket of conservation funds Rollins said had been released). “We’re fronting the bill, and it puts excessive risk on us,” he said. “Having claims that are not being reimbursed means we can’t give food to our elders, give food to our people.” (Link to this post.)
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