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'This business just wouldn't exist': Farmer says federal program was critical to success

·Claire Carlson for The Daily Yonder

Claire Carlson for The Daily Yonder
Claire Carlson for The Daily Yonder
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At more than 5,000 feet elevation, Lotspeich Family Farm in rural Deeth, Nevada, boasts a surprising variety of produce for the middle of winter. 

In their greenhouse, fruits like peppers and lemons are growing, and out under the hoop houses—large, cylindrical structures that offer the plants some protection from the cold—swiss chard and the remainder of last year's spinach grow despite the sub-zero temperatures winter in the high desert brings. Come spring and summer, the amount of produce the Lotspeich family will grow to sell at farmers markets in the region will increase considerably. But for now, they're just grateful to have fresh lemons.

The Lotspeichs built their business using U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grants that, since President Donald Trump entered office, might no longer be available to other small and mid-size farmers because of the president's spending freeze, which is blocking trillions of dollars in Congressionally approved spending, explains The Daily Yonder.

On Feb. 21, 2025, USDA announced it would release $20 million of the frozen funds—a tiny fraction of the total funding on pause from a Jan. 20, 2025, executive order. That order paused the disbursement of funds from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, which allocated USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) $19.5 billion over five years for existing conservation programs that provide grants to farmers. Groups have successfully challenged the order in federal court, but the Trump administration continues to block spending through other means.

"Unfortunately, the Biden administration rushed out hundreds of millions of dollars of IRA funding that was supposed to be distributed over eight years," said Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins in a press release. "After careful review, it is clear that some of this funding went to programs that had nothing to do with agriculture—that is why we are still reviewing—whereas other funding was directed to farmers and ranchers who have since made investments in these programs."

The Lotspeichs paid for their first three hoop houses using NRCS grants. They've since built more using their own capital, but without those initial grants, Dan Lotspeich said, their business would never be where it is today.

"I genuinely think this business just wouldn't exist if it was not for being able to access that source of funding to get it started," Lotspeich said.

The USDA often serves as the first lender for beginning farmers who don't have extensive experience or who might have tarnished credit histories. It can also offer farmers lower interest rates than private loan companies. "The USDA actually does a fantastic job of essentially filling that investor role, for both small and larger-scale agriculture, where it's kind of missing from the private sector," Lotspeich said.

Dan Lotspeich inside a hoop house with spinach and Swiss chard growing.

Claire Carlson for The Daily Yonder

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Trump administration freezing out farmers

But since executive orders paused a large portion of USDA spending, the agency's role as a farm investor is in flux. "As a result of that, we're seeing contract terminations, contract modifications—a whole host of things," said Mike Lavender, policy director for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, a grassroots alliance of organizations that serve small and mid-sized farmers and ranchers. "There's anger and confusion over why contracts are being paused indiscriminately."

On Feb. 10, a federal judge found that the Trump administration had defied the judicial mandate to reverse the funding freeze. But to farmers, that discovery is largely meaningless without delivery on payments. While the recent rollout of $20 million of frozen spending will get some money to farmers, countless more are still left without. 

If they go much longer without promised grant funding, they risk losing their businesses, which would be a blow to both the farmers and the people they employ, Lavender said. 

The latest agriculture census found that between 2017 and 2022, the U.S. lost 7% of total farms. Lavender said that this number could increase if farmers don't get payments soon, leading to further consolidation of agriculture where just a few corporations control large swaths of the industry. 

"It's particularly painful [to lose a farm] not as a result of something outside of control, but happening as a result of something intentional, driving further consolidation, harming rural communities and farm families in the long term," Lavender said.

Mass USDA layoffs could also bring long-term challenges to farmers, even if they do survive the spending freeze. 

Lotspeich Family Farms, for example, relied on the assistance of a district conservationist at the USDA extension office in Elko, Nevada, during their grant application process. She's the one who first told the Lotspeichs about the NRCS grants for hoop houses and later helped them navigate the application steps. 

"The support of the local USDA–NRCS folks was absolutely crucial, especially for the first round of applications, because they helped us navigate through all the more arcane parts of it," Lotspeich said. 

As of Feb. 20, 2025, the number of fired USDA employees has not been publicly released, but Agri-Pulse reporting from inside sources estimated thousands of firings inside the agency—1,200 of them from NRCS, the program that the Lotspeichs got money from. 

Now, the Lotspeichs are waiting to hear back from USDA's Farm Service Agency about an operating loan so they can start construction on a new processing building that will give them additional cooler space and a washing station for harvested crops. But because of the current confusion about USDA spending, Lotspeich said they've paused plans on that project indefinitely. 

Delayed and canceled projects are a reality many farmers will have to contend with if payments are pushed back much longer.

"From the conversations we've had, whether farmers or organizations who are providing technical assistance, the urgency is immediate, and the need for scenario planning is immediate, which is why the relief and the clarity [from USDA] needs to be immediate," Lavender said.

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