Click the link to read the article on the Colorado Public Radio website (Caitlyn Kim). Here’s an excerpt:
February 26, 2025
In rural Colorado, U.S. Department of Agriculture funding has long provided not only a safety net against disasters and shifting commodity prices but also the seed money for projects ranging from irrigation ditches to broadband expansion. President Donald Trump’s efforts to remake and slim down the federal government are putting that support in question.
“We lost an NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) grant that totaled about $640,000 or $630,000,” said Michael Nolan, president of the Mancos Conservation District and a farmer himself. “We had spent down about 25 percent of that already implementing programs, paying staff time, and to have that rug just pulled out from underneath us means … potential furloughs, potential layoffs. It’s a big hit to our conservation district.”
[…]
One Western Slope ag producer said right now there’s no certainty over what will or will not be funded. Like many farmers and ranchers, this producer has used USDA grant programs and is really worried about how this could impact farm infrastructure projects, “where federal funding is really critical, in particular water projects.” CPR News is granting him anonymity because he fears he could lose funding for speaking out. When the producer reached out to his USDA representative on the ground, “there’s no definitive answer that we won’t receive (the funding). But there’s also no definitive answer that we will.”
[…]
It’s not just individual producers that have been impacted by the USDA cuts. Six rural electric cooperatives in the state that received USDA grants funded through Biden’s signature climate and health bill have had their funding frozen