about the federal grant funding freeze
On January 27, 2025, the government announced it would be hitting pause on all federal funding in response to Executive Orders signed on January 20. The freeze included a number of grants that support farmers: the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities (PCSC), Forest Landowner Support (FLS), Regional Energy for America Program (REAP), Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Regional Conservation Partnerships (RCP), Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), and more.
These grants also fund a portion of ASD’s work to support farmers, including:
Appalachian Harvest Food Box Program
The grant for this program is reimbursement based, meaning ASD must spend the money before the government pays us back. That means:
- We use our own funds to purchase fresh, nutritious food from local and regional farmers.
- We then put that food into 1,500 to 2,000 food boxes that we donate weekly to individuals and food pantries.
- A request is then submitted to the government to be reimbursed for those funds.
ASD was notified that the largest source of funds for this program will either be reimbursed late or partially. There is also no guarantee that this grant will continue to be funded throughout the contract period.
All of this uncertainty from federal payments means:
- We are unable to purchase products from farmers and producers, which means
- We will not have food to put in our food boxes
- We will not be able to hire a Food Access Manager to manage the program as previously planned
ASD’s Agroforestry Program
Three of Agroforestry’s federal grants were frozen as part of the current administration’s federal funding freeze. Totaling $1.25 million dollars in awarded and legally obligated funding that should continue through 2028, these federal grants enable ASD to provide essential resources and services that farming communities throughout Central Appalachia rely on. This includes training, technical and financial assistance, sales and processing support, and more.
With federal funding frozen, these critical services and our ASD agroforestry team are in jeopardy. These federal grants are largely reimbursement-based, meaning ASD and farmers must spend the money before the government issues payment. With a freeze in effect, these payments cannot be made and we have no information on how long it will take before our grant accounts are unlocked. Our limited state and foundation grants cannot sustain a long-term funding freeze.
As an example of the impacts to farmers, the Appalachian Harvest Herb Hub farmers that ASD supports through marketing, processing, aggregation, and distribution (MPAD) services now face losing up to $237,077 in sales this year alone. Similarly, farmers across the U.S. risk losing $36 million dollars in direct financial assistance for the establishment of agroforestry practices that are key to diversifying farm income, increasing yields, and improving resilience to floods and droughts.
What You Can Do To Help
- Speak up: Use this form through Farm Aid to tell Congress to lift the funding freeze. It will take less than a minute to make an enormous impact!
- If you’re a farmer: Post your impact story on Facebook and include this hashtag: #UnfreezeMyFarm. Be sure to also tag your local representatives in your post. This is a national grassroots effort to collect farmer stories to share with the government, so they can see first-hand how detrimental this freeze is. Use this link if you need to look up the names of your elected officials.
- Share your impact story: If you are affected by this freeze, we’d love to hear your story so we can use it in our efforts to get these funded freezes lifted. Please use this form to tell your food box story, and this form to tell your agroforestry story.
- Help spread the word: Share this information and these action items with your friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors to raise awareness about this issue and its impacts to farming communities all across America.
More About the Freeze
- Farm Aid: Frozen federal funds hurt farmers
- WCYB News: Local farmers and families at risk as ASD funding slows, calls for public support
- WJHL News: Potential funding freeze impacts SWVA non-profit that supplies food boxes to thousands
- WUSA9: Loudoun County farmers’ initiatives still face uncertainty over frozen federal funds
- CivilEats – Farmers Say Climate-Smart Commodities Projects Are Crumbling
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