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Climate-smart grant holders say ripple effects are mounting

An executive director of a sustainable agriculture nonprofit says rural communities will bear the brunt of USDA funding freezes and firings.

Hannah Smith-Brubaker with Pasa Sustainable Agriculture tells Brownfield, “The firings in the federal government, and equally the funding freeze itself, disproportionately is impacting rural communities.”

“We know that farmer dollars go a very long way in supporting their local economy,” she says.

She says funding for her organization’s $59 million USDA Climate-Smart Commodity grant was working to increase conservation adoption across 15 states along the east coast, but it’s been frozen for nearly 40 days.

“The guidance is simply keep working on your project and we don’t know when you will be reimbursed,” she explains. “At some point in the not-too-distant future, unfortunately, we’re going to run out of money, and we just have hundreds of farmers waiting.”

Smith-Brubaker says her staff of more than 80 will be furloughed by the end of the month, and the freeze has been highly disruptive to farm businesses.

“It really erodes a lot of trust, I think that that is fundamental to what is going on right now,” she says.

More than 140 projects across the country were awarded $3 billion for climate-smart commodity grants by the Biden administration.

Smith-Brubaker says regional organizing efforts calling on Congress are growing, asking for the USDA to reinstate needed funds and services.