{"id":19118,"date":"2025-02-18T11:45:50","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T19:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calcanstaging.kinsta.cloud\/?p=19118"},"modified":"2025-04-01T13:57:51","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T20:57:51","slug":"uncertain-future-for-the-countrys-agriculture-conservation-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calclimateag.org\/es\/uncertain-future-for-the-countrys-agriculture-conservation-programs\/","title":{"rendered":"Futuro incierto para los programas de conservaci\u00f3n agr\u00edcola del pa\u00eds"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last two weeks have been dizzying for farmers and ranchers who receive federal funding for on-farm environmental projects, and also for the federal employees, researchers and non-profit organizations that support them with outreach and technical assistance, grants and loans, and other services.<\/span><\/p>\n

A series of executive orders signed by President Trump soon after his inauguration led to a flurry of confusing and inconsistent actions to implement them, including a funding freeze across the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the abrupt termination of contracts, and the firing of thousands of probationary employees as well as some experienced career professionals.<\/span><\/p>\n

The following is an update on the funding freeze from our friends at the <\/span>National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

As of Friday, February 14, the funding freeze enacted across all federal agencies is still at least partly in effect at USDA, EPA, and elsewhere despite multiple escalating court orders. It is expected to remain so for at least the next few days to next few weeks or even longer.<\/span> This Times piece<\/span><\/a> outlines many of the broad contours of the court cases right now, including escalating rhetoric from the administration and speculation around what may happen if they keep defying court orders.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the meantime, agencies like USDA are considering terminating or modifying active contracts deemed to be out of alignment with the administration\u2019s priorities. Likely targets for scrutiny in the coming weeks and months are grant-funded projects focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), those serving underserved communities and producers, and climate change. It is also not yet clear if this scrutiny will be primarily targeted at nonprofit organizations or farmers or both. We do not yet know how quickly potential contract terminations or modifications will begin or how widespread the actions will be across agencies and programs.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On February 13, <\/span>Brooke Rollins was sworn in<\/span><\/a> as USDA\u2019s new Secretary of Agriculture and now has responsibility for giving direction to USDA employees about following the court orders to resume funding and honor the contractual obligations of the agency. However, during her confirmation hearing, she gave no specific indication about what actions she would take. In her first <\/span>press release<\/span><\/a>, Rollins detailed the elimination of DEI programming, welcoming the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) into USDA and returning to USDA\u2019s \u201ccore mission.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Impacts on the ground<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

In the swirl of confusion about which funding could be affected, we have heard stories from several farmers regarding the disruption to their USDA-funded projects. The landscape has been constantly shifting, and while these particular situations below may be outdated, they still illustrate what\u2019s at stake.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n