Seoul Gazette - US farmers say Trump let them down with spending freeze

Rural America came out strongly for Trump in last year's presidential election, and farmers say they did not expect to be affected by the Republican's unprecedented attempt to cut back US government programs.

The farmers say they have not been reimbursed from two United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs designed to help them invest in conservation and clean energy generation.

These programs were funded through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), one of former president Joe Biden's signature pieces of legislation which pumped billions of dollars into clean energy projects across the country. Trump opposes US efforts to fight climate change and calls the IRA the "green new scam."

"I'm very concerned about the security of our farms," 44-year-old Elisa Lane, who owns and runs a farm producing fruit and flower farm in the US state of Maryland, told AFP on Monday.

Lane was awarded $30,000 by USDA last summer to subsidize a $72,000 solar panel installation on her 15-acre farm.

But shortly after taking office on January 20, Trump signed an executive order instructing all agencies to "immediately pause the disbursement of funds" appropriated through the IRA.

Eight days later, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a memo -- since rescinded -- pausing all federal grant funding.

That left Lane and farmers across the country without the funding they'd counted on to complete costly projects.

Since the OMB memo was published last month, Lane said she has not received the grant funding, despite an OMB clarification claiming that funds for farmers and small businesses would "not be paused" by the funding freeze.

"We are American farmers, and so we are the people that when we hear 'America first'..., that message is supposed to be for us," Lane said, referring to Trump's nationalist, right-wing slogan.

"We're the ones that are supposed to be elevated and cared for," she added. "And this is in direct conflict with that ideology."

Lane planned to join several other farmers at a hearing held by the House Agriculture Committee later on Tuesday, after receiving an invitation from Democrats on the committee.

The USDA did not respond to a request for comment.

- 'Provide immediate clarity' -

Skylar Holden, a 27-year-old cattle farmer from the Midwestern state of Missouri told AFP that he has also had his USDA funding frozen in the wake of the OMB's short-lived funding freeze.

Holden had signed up for support from another IRA-funded USDA program designed to helps farmer with conservation work on their farms.

The USDA funding to help support the $240,000 conservation project he is planning for his 260-acre farm is now also on pause.

"The worry is if I complete these projects, I'm still not going to have the funds that I need in order to make the farm payment, in order to purchase the hay we need for the following winter," he said.

Cases like those of Lane and Holden have been making headlines in the United States since the OMB memorandum was published last month, sparking calls for the Trump administration to take action.

"USDA and other agencies must honor their commitments to farmers and rural communities," National Farmers Union President Rob Larew said in a statement shared with AFP.

"While it is customary for a new administration to review programs and funding, agriculture is already facing significant economic uncertainty," he said.

"We strongly urge the administration to provide immediate clarity on funding and ensure that farmers and rural communities aren't left behind," he added.

Y.Ko--SG