April 30, 2026
WASHINGTON — Today, the United States House approved a five-year farm bill that includes provisions weakening the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), a critical resource for farmers, ranchers, and rural small businesses across the country.
“At a time of increasing rural economic crisis and rising input costs, farmers, ranchers, and rural small businesses need more options to save money, not less,” said Matt Ohloff, Policy Advocate with ELPC. “REAP has been a lifeline for farmers and rural small businesses seeking to cut their energy costs and generate substantial economic activity in their communities.
The House Farm Bill would unnecessarily limit the types of projects farmers and rural small businesses can do through REAP, imposing restrictions that would prevent many money-saving renewable energy projects. This is on top of the Trump Agriculture Department’s dramatic failure to implement the program since January of 2025. The House is moving in the wrong direction on REAP. The Senate should use this opportunity to make REAP stronger and more accessible.”
Since the 2014 Farm Bill, REAP has leveraged more than $10 billion in private investment in rural economies, increasing rural economic development, and growing new opportunities for rural small businesses and agricultural producers. Read more about the REAP program and its successes here.