April 11, 2025 – In response to requests from Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), USDA officials provided a list of 15 agency programs that are currently paused, meaning farmers and organizations with active grant contracts are not currently receiving payments. However, based on Civil Eats’ ongoing reporting, the list—which was shared with Politico—is incomplete.
The list confirms that the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Program, which was slated to move $3.1 billion to thousands of farmers across the country, is still under review. It also includes the Rural Energy for America Program, despite the fact that the USDA announced it had unfrozen that program at the end of March.
However, missing from the list is the Farm Labor Stabilization Program, which farmers report they have still been unable to get answers on. Also missing is the Regional Food Business Centers program, which has been paused since January. The Organic Market Development Grant and the Transition to Organic Partnership Programs are also still paused, although farm groups told Civil Eats that the USDA has indicated to the organic industry that it is nearly done with its review.
Other programs that farmers and organizations have reported to Civil Eats as having paused payments included the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program, the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, and the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. Also unclear is whether all funding for the Environmental Quality Incentive Program and Conservative Stewardship Programs has been released or if only a first $20 million chunk was unfrozen. (Civil Eats’ ongoing list has been updated to reflect additional programs the USDA identified as frozen.)
The USDA froze funding soon after President Trump took office. In a letter to Senator Klobuchar, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said the pause is in service of a “substantive review of contracts, personnel, and spending” that is her responsibility during a transition. The agency has also canceled some individual contracts within programs that it says violate President Trump’s executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Since then, farmers have struggled to get answers as to when expected reimbursements might arrive or if their contracts might be cancelled, causing significant financial distress and uncertainty. The USDA has provided few details in response to press inquiries, and the list provided to Senator Klobuchar represents the first significant disclosure of details.
Civil Eats sent a list of the missing programs to USDA and asked the agency to clarify if those were also under review despite not being on their list. A USDA spokesperson did not provide specific details but sent the following statement: “While USDA can confirm ongoing review of most of these programs, USDA offered this information to the Ranking Member in response to her ongoing oversight inquiries. Taking that good faith exchange and introducing it to the press is unfortunate.” (Link to this post.)
The post USDA Shares (Incomplete) List of Frozen Programs With Congress appeared first on Civil Eats.
