On Donald Trump’s first day in office, he ordered the Agriculture Department to freeze funds for agricultural programs established under the clean-energy portion of Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. The order froze funds that farmers depended upon, despite Trump’s promises that the funding freeze wouldn’t apply to them. Three weeks later, and even after a federal judge paused the across-the-board federal funding freeze, farmers report that they are still missing millions of dollars worth of funds.
“This is another instance of the extent of funding freezes being extremely unclear even after the apparent unfreezing of funds,” explains Eurasia Group US expert Noah Daponte-Smith.
Under the IRA, farmers had to lay out the money to make their operations more eco-friendly, but they were promised reimbursement by the government. Thousands of farmers are on the hook for investments they have made in new farming practices, crops, and conservation efforts under the program. The freeze also paused large-scale projects, like a five-year Midwest Climate Smart Commodity grant that was encouraging conservation efforts on farms across 12 states.
Farmers make up a substantial portion of Trump’s base, with America’s most farming-dependent counties backing Trump at an average 77% in 2024.
The funding holdup comes as farmers face uncertainty about whether US agriculture will be targeted by China and other trade partners as retribution for Trump’s tariffs. The US exported $36.4 billion in agricultural products to China in 2022, leaving farmers – and food prices – vulnerable if Beijing decides to put retaliatory tariffs on the industry.