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March 26, 2025
Yesterday, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) may lift its freeze on some funding under the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) and other rural energy programs – but with new hurdles.
After freezing REAP funds for over two months, the USDA will now allow recipients 30 days to “revise their project plans” and file new paperwork before the USDA will honor the signed contracts with farmers and rural small businesses.
USDA data shows that over $664 million in Inflation Reduction Act REAP funding was awarded for 4,096 grants to farmers and rural small businesses in fiscal year 2024 and the first quarter of fiscal year 2025. 80% of these grants are in Republican House districts.
Statement from Andy Olsen, Senior Policy Advocate, ELPC
“Farmers and rural small businesses want USDA to honor the commitments it already made. They invested in projects to improve energy efficiency or add renewable energy systems after they entered into contracts with USDA in good faith.
Instead of honoring their commitments, the USDA now demands that these farmers and rural small businesses jump through more hoops at a time when they’re already struggling with high costs and uncertainty.
This isn’t cutting red tape; it’s adding more.”