USDA says it will release $20 million of frozen farmer funds

By P.J. Huffstutter

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture will release approximately $20 million in funding for previously approved contracts that had been frozen by the Trump administration's push to overhaul the federal government, the agency said late on Thursday.

The sum represents a tiny sliver of program funding the USDA suspended after the White House's broad freeze of federal loans and grants last month. Although the administration rescinded the memo ordering the freeze and it has been blocked in court, a U.S. judge has said the government was still withholding funds.

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said the released funds will go to honor contracts that were already made directly with farmers, according to a statement on the USDA's website.

The USDA is releasing $20 million in contracts for the Environmental Quality Incentive Program, the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, it said.

Some of the money the USDA has frozen is tied to environmental conservation programs funded by former President Joe Biden's signature climate law, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which included about $19.5 billion for farm programs over 10 years.

In the statement, Rollins said the agency is still reviewing IRA funding that had been distributed during the Biden administration.

The agency's review of IRA-backed grants and contracts is part of its sweeping review of more than 400 USDA programs.

The Trump administration has said the funding for programs helping farmers would not be affected in the government overhaul.

But the impact has been immediate and wide-ranging, holding up cash assistance for ranchers to fix cattle watering systems and to help corn growers plant cover crops to curb wind erosion.

(Reporting by P.J. Huffstutter; Editing by Sandra Maler and Tom Hogue)