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Sen. Booker Proposes Bill to Require USDA to Reimburse Farmer Expenses

  • Writer: Bob Benenson
    Bob Benenson
  • Mar 30
  • 2 min read

Measure Would Lift the Funding Freeze on Contracted Federal Payments


Farm Aid organization's graphic calling for an end to the USDA's freeze on contracted reimbursements to farmers.
Farm Aid organization's graphic calling for an end to the USDA's freeze on contracted reimbursements to farmers.

As regular readers of this publication know, the Trump administration has placed a freeze on contracted federal reimbursements to farmers for expenses undertaken under several USDA programs. This abrupt and unfair action has placed many hard-working farmers at severe financial risk while eroding public trust that the federal government will meet its financial commitments.


Now there is a proposed remedy in the Honor Farmers Contracts Act, introduced last week by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, the New Jersey Democrat who is one of Washington's leading advocates for building a better food system.


Here is the Facebook post from the Farm Aid non-profit organization, from which I learned about the senator's initiative:


U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the Honor Farmer Contracts Act. This legislation aims to release illegally frozen U.S. Department of Agriculture funding to farmers.


“Farmers across the country have been in limbo ever since the USDA froze previously signed agreements and contracts, with many facing catastrophic consequences if these freezes continue,” said Senator Booker. “USDA’s refusal to pay what is owed to farmers and the organizations that support them is theft, plain and simple. It's a critical time of year for farmers and ranchers. They should be doing what they love – feeding our communities, not worrying about unpaid contracts.”


This article from Insider NJ features Farm Aid’s policy and advocacy manager, Hannah Tremblay: “On Farm Aid's hotline, we're hearing from farmers and farmer-serving organizations who have frozen and canceled federal funding, and we know these are only a few of the thousands from around the country... The effects of this funding freeze are likely to compound and severely impact all aspects of our food system – from seed and soil, to farmer and consumer. Farm Aid fully supports the Honor Farmer Contracts Act to end this unlawful freeze now!”


A small number of the affected contracts — including those in the IL-EATS program that provides market prices to small farmers to help feed the needy — have been unfrozen. But others, particularly those enabling farmers to make "climate-smart" adaptations and other modifications to improve soil health and improve overall sustainability remain frozen.


Let's be blunt. Any new administration has the right to set its own policy agenda, and as long as programs are carefully measured on their value, and stakeholders have the opportunity to explain why they think the programs have merit, then that is how our political process is supposed to work.


But to come into office on a rampage and — without prior warning — take a wrecking ball to programs and hurt real Americans, not on the basis of the programs' merits, but because they were implemented by the previous administration, or because they have some relationship to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies, or because you don't believe that global climate change and food system sustainability are big deals is... bullshit.


Please support Sen. Booker's proposal, go to Congress.gov to look up and contact your Congress members, and tell the USDA to pay its bills, just like you have to.



 

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