By Mark Schonbeck, VABF Policy Liason
The Freeze Continues – and Our Response is Having an Impact!
Once again, I want to thank all of you who have shared your stories about how the recent disruption of USDA programs has impacted your farming operations and/or your food systems work. In addition to freezing grant funding and suspending payments on conservation and other contracts, USDA has carried out severe staff reductions across agencies and closed field offices of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Farm Services Agency (FSA). These impacts are growing all the time, and some of the stories are frankly heartbreaking. While some local food systems funding has been resumed for the time being (through June) these funding streams remain insecure in the long term, and some large Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities project seem to be shut down. As a result of these disruptions, major sustainable agriculture nonprofits such as the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) and, closer to home, Appalachian Sustainable Development in southwest Virginia, have had to furlough some of their staff because grants and contracts have been suspended or canceled.
The good news is that our efforts are beginning to yield results. Impelled in large part by the stories you have shared and that have been forwarded to aides to Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine with whom Brent and I visited during the NSAC meeting in February, our two Senators wrote a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins urging her to unfreeze all program funding and honor all existing USDA contracts with farmers.
In addition, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey is introducing the Honor Farmer Contracts Act of 2025 this week. This bill would order USDA to unfreeze funds and honor all current contracts, and prohibits the closing of NRCS and FSA offices without justification, and requires 60 days’ notice to Congress along with written justification prior to any office closures. Eleven other Senators have co-sponsored the bill, and some 300 organizations, including VABF, have signed a letter to the Senate Agriculture Committee leadership urging their support for the Honor Farmer Contracts Act.
Take Action!
We need to keep the pressure on our Congressional Representatives, especially the Republicans, to take a firm stand with USDA Secretary Rollins, urging her to unfreeze USDA program funding, honor all contracts, and stop/reverse the illegal staff firings and office closures.
Virginia Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner are already with us. Although they are not among the 11 co-sponsors of the Honor Farmer Contracts Act as of today (March 25), it is very likely that they will join as co-sponsors in the near future – especially if enough of us call them and urge them to do so.
Brent and I will continue to forward updates from you all regarding funding status to the Congressional staffers with whom we met in February including Representatives Morgan Griffith (R-9th) and Ben Cline (R-6th), as well as our two Senators. We are especially encouraged that Senators Warner and Kaine have taken action and are hopeful that enough pressure could induce our Representatives to do likewise. Your testimonials can play a vital role in getting more and more Members of Congress to exercise their Constitutional authority over tax dollars and require USDA to reinstate the programs that have helped you make a living as you care for your land and your communities.
So – keep them coming!!
Note: we understand that some of you may want to share your stories anonymously, and we will honor all requests for anonymity in our communications.
Finally, here are some resources that you can use to deliver your testimonials directly to your Representative and to our Senators. Use these phone and email templates to prepare and deliver your message. Also, check out this Action page on the NSAC website.
It is a time to stay connected and help each other out in whatever way we can. It is a time to share ideas, concerns, needs, and resources as we move into uncharted waters. Let us know whether and how we can help. We love and appreciate you all!
Brent Wills programs@vabf.org
Mark Schonbeck schonbeckmark@gmail.com
NSAC Documents Impacts of the Funding Freeze and USDA Staff Layoffs
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) continues to coordinate nationwide efforts to pressure Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to restore USDA programs, staffing, and funding for contracts already signed with farmers, sustainable agriculture and food security NGOs, and other participants in USDA conservation, rural development, and other programs. On March 6, NSAC hosted a virtual briefing with five farmers who shared their stories of how the multiple disruptions in USDA programs and services have hurt their operations.
Among the hardest hit are farmers and organizations participating in the Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities program, in which the USDA has invested several billion dollars to support farmers to implement climate-friendly conservation practices and systems in crop and livestock production. The abrupt cutoff of funds has severely impacted hundreds of farmers who have invested in cover crop seeds, tree planting stock, and other materials to implement advanced conservation, in anticipation of reimbursement in time to cover 2025 growing season expenses.
In addition to the funding freeze, USDA has bowed to pressure from Musk/DOGE to fire or furlough six thousand staff and to begin closing field offices of the Farm Services Agency (FSA) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) all around the country. This leaves remaining offices and staff stretched extremely thin and farmers without the conservation technical support that they need to carry out planned practices. The layoffs specifically targeted newer staff (less than one year with USDA), some of whom were told (incorrectly) either that they were fired for poor performance or that their services were no longer needed. (The nation’s two million farmers beg to differ on this!)
One ray of hope is that the Merit Systems Protection Board determined that the firings were illegal, put a 45 day stay on termination and changed the status of all affected employees to paid administrative leave. However the layoffs have had especially severe impacts on the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA), thus undermining efforts and knocking some long term agroecosystem studies into disarray.
The funding freeze and its impacts on USDA programs and farmers was also the main focus of the NSAC winter meeting and lobby day in Washington, DC in February.
Perennial Opportunity
James River Buffer Program
Designs and installs riparian forest buffer at no cost to you
If your farm is located within the James River watershed and you would like to plant a forested buffer to protect water quality, provide wildlife habitat, and improve farm biodiversity, check out the James River Buffer Program. The James River Association, the Virginia Department of Forestry, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation are working with farmers and landowners across the middle and upper James River watershed to restore or create forest buffers that improve the quality of local waterways. The program works with you to select tree species, plants the buffer, and provides maintenance for the first three years at no cost to you. Plantings can include income generating species such as sugar maple for syrup production.
Perennial plantings will play a vital role in addressing the climate crisis by enhancing resilience, sequestering carbon, and intercepting nutrients.
VABF Members! 
We'd like to see your farm
