Farmers reap a bitter harvest when Trump administration freezes USDA funds
Maryland farmers are among those who’ve learned that the latest freeze to federal funds means they may be left on the hook for investments they made with the promise of federal grants and loans.
In Montgomery County, Michael Protas, who goes by “Farmer Mike” and owns the One Acre vegetable farm, said he just learned that he might have to bear the entire cost of the $100,000 solar panel project he installed on his farm.
That money would have come as part of the Rural Energy for America Program, also known as REAP to farmers. That funding has since been frozen.
The news is especially unwelcome, Protas said, as a longtime “major customer” just let him know that they would end their purchasing relationship with the farm.
“I can only assume the reason why they’re not continuing after seven or eight years of working with me yearly is due to the financial uncertainty,” Protas said.
Protas explained that farmers already operate on razor-thin margins, and the income they do make comes after money has been spent on equipment, seed and labor.
“So it does put me in quite a bit of a pickle,” he said. “At the moment, I don’t know what I’m going to do, but that’s the cards I’ve been dealt.”
Farming, Protas said, is “so dependent on so many other variables outside of your control that it just makes it very, very challenging. And this is just another very challenging day for me.”
Protas said unlike many farmers, he’s lucky: “I have a very supportive support system.”
Because he operates as a CSA, or community supported agriculture, the subscriptions that members pay helps keep Protas’ operation going — for now.
He explained that part of the $100,000 investment was made through a loan with Montgomery County’s Green Bank, a publicly-chartered nonprofit that works to promote “climate smart” agriculture. Protas said he called the organization’s office explaining “I’m freaking out,” but was told that they could “find a way to make this work.”
Asked how he handled the latest stressors in an already challenging field of agriculture, Protas joked, “I can’t say Jameson and a nice fireplace, but I mean, it’s going to be a challenging year for sure.”
Blooming concerns
Laura Beth Resnick found herself in a situation similar to the one Protas is facing.
As the owner of Butterbee Farm, a flower farm in Harford County, Maryland, Resnick told WTOP, the REAP contract she signed was used to install solar panels on her barn.
“The total cost for us was about $72,000, and so, the USDA said they would pay half and then we would pay half,” she said.
Like Protas, Resnick said the solar panel company she’s been working with has been “really kind,” and when she let them know that her funding had been rejected due to the Trump administration’s freeze, she was told “try not to panic.”
But, she said, while “it’s not like they’re demanding the money this instant, but it’s hard to imagine that if our contract gets somehow canceled, that the solar company will just give us the solar panels. I think we’re going to be held liable for this, and that’s really scary.”
Resnick said she and her husband have been farming for 13 years now, and they’ve benefited from a variety of federal grants designed to support agriculture. But there are other expenses, like the mortgage on their farm and the greenhouses that allow them to maximize their flower yield.
Without the variety of grants and low-interest loans for farmers, Resnick said, “I would have to imagine that any new farmer who’s just starting out and doesn’t have a whole lot of capital is just going to have to go find another career.”
Butterbee Farm has links to several D.C.-area shops, like Little Acre Flowers and York Flowers, and clients who sign on with subscriptions based on the season.
“We deliver twice a week to Baltimore and D.C. customers during our high season, which for us is spring and fall. We’re just starting right now. So we had a good amount for Valentine’s Day, but only enough for a few of our very best customers,” she said.
Resnick said there have been customers who’ve asked how they could help support her farm, and that’s been gratifying. But she’s hoping that there’s a thaw in the frozen funds.
“None of us are in this to make money. We’re just doing it because we love it. That’s why these programs exist in the first place,” she said.