After seeing billions of additional dollars flow to farmland conservation during the Biden administration, beneficiaries of those programs face a stark prospect in the year ahead: The spending spree is about to end.
If the incoming Trump administration is anything like the first one, farmers looking for the Department of Agriculture’s help to build better soil, save water or fight climate change may find fewer funds available.
“This happens over and over and over again,” said Ferd Hoefner, an agriculture policy consultant who focuses on conservation. Deficit hawks — usually Republicans — go after the nondefense discretionary spending that makes up only about 10 percent of the overall federal budget, making agriculture a tempting target for cuts, he said.
Like others who advocate more conservation funding, Hoefner said he worries that the in-person technical assistance farmers receive from USDA staff could suffer in a budget-cutting environment.
