Cancelled funding includes grants meant to increase access to new land, capital, and markets for farmers, especially for new and beginning farmers
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) joined Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.), members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, in leading a majority of their Democratic colleagues on the Agriculture Committee in pressing the Trump Administration for answers on cancelled funding for farmers and producers.
“We ask that you provide a complete list of awards that USDA intends to terminate, including information about awardees, programs, funding amounts, and locations. We also ask that you provide further details on why these awards intend to be cancelled, as well as the legal basis for cancelling the awards, and if the funds are being repurposed, for what they will be repurposed,” the Senators wrote.
“Furthermore, as the national age of U.S. farmers approaches 60, we must ensure that there is a next generation of well-resourced farmers and that they are set up to succeed. We are concerned that money that has been or was flowing directly to American farmers, whether that was from USDA or through a cooperative agreement, is being cancelled,”the Senators continued.
Their oversight push comes after Secretary Rollins announced 145 U.S. Department of Agriculture awards for farmers, totaling $148.6 million, would be terminated. The announcement lacked any specific details on which awards were cancelled or justifications for the funding cancellations, leading to concerns that farmers who receive the funding directly could see significant harm to their bottom lines while facing the worst farm economy in the last 20 years.
In addition to Senators Schiff and Smith, the letter was signed by Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Senators Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.).
Read the full letter hereand below.
Dear Secretary Rollins:
On June 17, 2025, USDA announced the termination of more than 145 awards totaling $148.6 million. We ask that you provide a complete list of awards that USDA intends to terminate, including information about awardees, programs, funding amounts, and locations. We also ask that you provide further details on why these awards intend to be cancelled, as well as the legal basis for cancelling the awards, and if the funds are being repurposed, for what they will be repurposed.
Although the press release did not include full detail on which awards USDA intends to terminate, it did reference an awardee of USDA’s Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program (LCM). With funding provided by Congress, USDA created LCM to increase producers’ access to land, capital, and markets, which is critical to the success of agriculture. We are concerned that cancelling awardees of USDA’s LCM program is contradictory to our shared goal of safeguarding the future of American farmers and agricultural success. Furthermore, as the national age of U.S. farmers approaches 60, we must ensure that there is a next generation of well-resourced farmers and that they are set up to succeed.
We are concerned that money that has been or was flowing directly to American farmers, whether that was from USDA or through a cooperative agreement, is being cancelled.
Given these considerations, we request the aforementioned thorough and accurate information about USDA program awardees that will be cancelled related to the June 17 press release. We also request that you carefully reconsider planned terminations and how they may impact the health and resilience of American agriculture.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
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