The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 included nearly $20 billion dollars in funding for agricultural conservation programs over time, but the Trump Administration is withholding some of that funding, saying it’s under review.
The USDA announced on Thursday that it was releasing about $20 million for several ag programs. But, that money is just a small piece of the funding overall.
Pennsylvania farmers stand to lose a total of about $275 million in unappropriated Inflation Reduction Act funding for ag conservation projects through 2031.
Tom Croner’s family has a grain and hay farm in Somerset County.
“These programs are just basic common sense if you will,” Croner said.
He said agriculture is a constantly changing environment, like the severe drought they had last summer. Support for ag conservation, he said, is needed.
“Anything that will retain the land, improve the land, protect the land,” he said.
But he is concerned.
“With all the rhetoric that flies around, you really don’t know what’s going to come out of the back rooms to help agriculture or not,” Croner said.
The Trump administration says some of the IRA funding had gone to “programs that had nothing to do with agriculture.” They say the USDA reviews of IRA funding are continuing.
