CONCORD, N.H. — With a payment of around $4,000 from a federal grant in limbo, Stephanie Kelliher isn’t sure if she’ll be able to finish installing a new irrigation system on her small farm in Whitefield, N.H.
She’s already drilled the well at Uphill Farm, and installed a pump and pumping plant, but when federal agents came to check her progress in late January, she learned her payment was among the funds frozen by the Trump administration.
“This drip irrigation system was going to be super efficient and was going to save me so much time and energy,” she said in an email. She said the project would allow her to water her plants more effectively, increase her yields, and help the plants better withstand pests.
But in late January, the Trump administration issued a memo ordering a freeze on funding for thousands of federal programs. Though the memo was rescinded and the freeze has been blocked in court, the government has continued to withhold certain funds. And though the administration said the freeze would not affect funding for farmers, many in New England said it has hurt their work, halting some payments and leaving projects in limbo amid uncertainty about the future.
Some have completed work on grants that were approved before President Trump took office, and they haven’t been reimbursed for expenses they’ve already incurred that the federal government agreed to pay. Others are unsure of whether to proceed with projects they’ve planned.
“If we build a building for half a million dollars and then USDA says, ‘Oh, actually, we’re not going to pay you,’ that will bankrupt our farm,” said Doug Morin of Tellman Hill Farm in Whitefield.
In June 2024, Kelliher said she signed a $11,296 contract with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, part of the US Department of Agriculture, to help cover the cost of an irrigation system.
The grant was part of a program called the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or EQIP, a conservation program to help farmers use sustainable practices that can improve air and water, and guard against drought.
“Farmers are some of the people most affected by climate change and NRCS funding helps us become more resilient,” she said. “Their funding allows us to undertake projects that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford without raising our prices, exploiting labor, or damaging the environment.”
New England is home to about 32,300 farms, according to 2022 data from the USDA.
In a statement, a USDA spokesperson said the agency has been reviewing funds from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to comply with Trump’s executive orders. Both acts were passed under former president Joe Biden’s administration. The Inflation Reduction Act included about $19.5 billion for farm programs over 10 years.
“Now that Secretary (Brooke) Rollins is confirmed, she will have the opportunity to assess these reviews and to make determinations as soon as possible,” the spokesperson said.
Late on Thursday, Rollins announced the first tranche of funding would be released, which represents a tiny fraction of the total funds that were frozen in a review of more than 400 programs. USDA is releasing about $20 million in contracts for three programs, including EQIP, the Conservation Stewardship Program, and the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, according to the agency. And the agency’s announcement said contracts that were already made directly to farmers will be honored.
Seth Wilner, an agricultural business management specialist with the UNH extension, called the development a start, noting that many other IRA funds are still frozen, including the Rural Energy for America Program.
A Maine farmer participating in that program is waiting on a $45,000 grant under that program, which could leave him on the hook for a $150,000 solar installation, the New England News Collaborative reported.
“No one really knows what is happening,” Wilner said. “Growers I spoke with this morning said they’ll celebrate when they have received the green light. That’s not yet happened though.”
In the meantime, New Hampshire farmers have been thrust into uncertainty, with some facing difficult financial decisions.
In Lancaster, N.H., Morgan Hill of Mount Cabot Maple said the government has not delivered a $5,000 payment for work thinning a stand of hardwood trees to improve forest health in January, which was also funded through an EQIP grant.
“Our agent did the paperwork confirming we did our part, but now we can’t get the check,” Hill said.
Jeremy DeLisle, a field specialist at the University of New Hampshire Extension, said farmers have completed work and are counting on federal funding for reimbursement.
“I certainly hope that the federal government will follow through and assist these farmers in completing these important projects,” he said.
New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen said she will fight to protect the funding as a member of the subcommittee that oversees funding for USDA.
“If this Administration has its way, too many of our small farms will have to foot the bill for projects that the federal government committed to fund and some of them may be forced to shutter as a result,” she said in a statement.
The funding freeze is also creating uncertainty for farmers who are unsure if they should move ahead on future projects.
At Tellman Hill Farm, Morin said he’s not sure if he should start construction on a $500,000 infrastructure project to build a facility for processing produce. It would include cold storage, a room for washing and cider pressing, and a small commercial kitchen that other farmers could rent. Morin said the project would be a huge opportunity for the business, but now it also represents a significant risk.
The state has selected the project to receive a $250,000 grant through a USDA program called the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program, and while Morin said he’s receiving signals from state officials to move forward, he’s trying to hold off until he has more clarity about the funding — and assurances the federal government won’t back out and leave him with the bill.
“At this point, we just feel very uncertain about whether we can bet on the federal government holding up their end of the bargain,” he said.
In Farmington, N.H., Jimi Tutor faces a similar dilemma on the 130-acre Clyde Farm, which he runs with his wife, Kristen Klenow. The couple received an EQIP grant to improve their forest stand through sustainable management. They can’t move forward with the next phase of the project until they pay a forester $6,000 to mark which trees to cut down — money Tutor said the federal government agreed to pay up front and money his family doesn’t have.
That puts the rest of the project, worth $60,000, in a bind, Tutor said. They’ve already taken on about $60,000 in debt for equipment to start a firewood business, but if they cut trees without a forester, they could lose the $60,000 payout from the grant. On the other hand, it’s not at all clear to Tutor that money will come back.
“If we knew the (federal) money was going to come back, we would… figure it out, get a personal loan, or borrow money from family to pay the forester, and so that way, at least it’s moving forward,” he said.
Without knowing that, he said, “We’re kind of stuck.”
Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.