The National Young Farmers Coalition is concerned that the USDA issued termination notices March 23 for 49 of 50 Increasing Land, Capital and Market Access projects, totaling nearly $300 million across 40 U.S. states and territories. The terminations take effect March 26.
The community-based projects were designed to address barriers that young, beginning and underserved producers face. Termination letters claim that "most of the awards did little to improve land access" and that there was "excessive spending on outreach and technical assistance."
"The Trump administration actively blocked awardees from delivering critical resources to the next generation of U.S. farmers and ranchers — then cited the absence of progress as grounds for termination," said Amanda Koehler, manager of the Land, Capital, and Market Access Network.
Koehler said current USDA leadership spent over a year freezing funding, cutting off communication with awardees and withholding approvals grantees needed to move forward with land acquisitions, farmland down payment assistance, low-interest loans and other core project activities.
"We have six farmers who were waiting for down payment assistance to purchase small farms, and now that opportunity may never come to fruition," said Dr. JohnElla Holmes, CEO and president of the Kansas Black Farmers Association.
"In Iowa, we've seen firsthand how the ILCMA program helps bridge the gap for beginning farmers who are ready to step into land ownership but face steep financial barriers," said Breanna Horsey, executive director of Sustainable Iowa Land Trust, an awardee of a now-terminated grant.
“The ILCMA Program is the result of more than a decade of farmer advocacy for land access for the next generation of working farmers,” said Michelle Hughes, Co-Executive Director of the National Young Farmers Coalition. “Regardless of geography or whether they grew up on a farm, secure access to farmland is the single greatest barrier facing new farmers and ranchers—and the number one reason producers leave agriculture. ILCMA is USDA’s only program designed to address the land access crisis, providing a much-needed investment in young and beginning farmers and ranchers. Terminating these contracts is irresponsible and short-sighted, and doing so at a time of record land costs, limited markets, and rising operating expenses will cause irreparable harm to the security and resilience of our nation’s farm and food systems.”
