Some small-scale fruit and vegetable farmers are skipping out on federal farm aid, citing onerous reporting requirements they say are not compatible with their farms and may not substantially pay off.
In December, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it would provide $12 billion in economic aid for farmers, through the Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) program, largely aimed at addressing market disruptions from shifting trade policy. Nearly all of the aid—$11 billion—was reserved for commodity farmers, or those growing crops like corn and soybeans.
The remaining $1 billion was designated for other crops, including sugar and specialty crops, through the Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers (ASCF) program. Farmers were notified on Feb. 13 that they had until March 13 to submit their 2025 acreage reports in order to apply for the aid. Now that the deadline has passed, farmers who submitted acreage reports are expected to receive an application for the aid.
Without knowing the potential benefits of the assistance, many specialty-crop farmers decided not to submit an acreage report, disqualifying them from the aid.
Meanwhile, farmers are still waiting for information about how the aid will be distributed. Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen Vaden said recently that specialty-crop-specific payments rates will be available by early April.
Without knowing the potential benefits of the assistance, many specialty-crop farmers decided not to submit an acreage report, disqualifying them from the aid.
“I think by and large, specialty-crop farmers that operate on smaller scales and have very diversified operations are just kind of ignoring this because it just feels so abstract,” said Lindsey Shapiro, a farmer and federal policy organizer at Pasa Sustainable Agriculture.
While acreage reports are common practice for commodity farms, it’s a new process for many specialty crop farmers, said Duncan Orlander, policy analyst at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC).
The acreage report asks farmers to list planting dates, crops planted, number of acres used, and where the crop was sold. Most small, diversified specialty-crop operations grow a range of crops, on a fraction of an acre of land, and sell to a variety of sources. Under those conditions, a detailed crop report can be difficult to put together.
Minnesota-based farmer Sara George grows a range of crops, including rhubarb, asparagus, raspberries, kale, apples, blueberries, and more. She’s picking raspberries nearly every day, she said, making it hard to report a harvest date. From there, she sells those raspberries online, to schools, wholesale, or at a farmers’ market. Tracking where all the crops were sold and for what price would be another difficult task, she said.
“If you have kale, you have to do acreage reporting of your kale,” George said. “I don’t plant an acre of kale, I plant two rows of kale.”
The March deadline came during planting season for many specialty crop growers, meaning they had less time to navigate this new process, Orlander said.
And without knowing how the payments will be administered, George said there isn’t a clear precedent of how specialty-crop farmers will benefit based on acreage.
Due to all these factors, Orlander said many of the farmers NSAC works with have said they aren’t going to participate, even though they could benefit from the economic boost.
While the FBA program is largely tied to trade, specialty crop producers have faced different economic stressors in recent years that make this assistance important. On top of high input costs, in part due to tariffs, these growers are also struggling with higher labor costs and fewer markets after USDA cut initiatives like the Local Food for Schools and Local Food Purchase Assistance programs.
Farmers wanting to apply for the assistance are directed by the USDA website to consult their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices for help. But farmers are also getting unclear guidance from these employees. This is in part because FSA staff are also not familiar with filing these acreage reports for smaller specialty crop operations.
Many local FSA offices are also strained by staffing cuts and may not have had the capacity to fully walk each producer through the reports.
Both George and Shapiro said they have reached out to local FSA offices with questions about the forms. But staff seem to have limited information as well and are also new to filing these reports for specialty crops.
On top of her own farming operations, George also works with farm advocacy group Renewing the Countryside, where she helps connect farmers to USDA resources. Despite her extensive experience working with USDA programs and grants, she said she herself would need one-on-one support to fill out the acreage reporting forms.
“I have looked at the acreage report and decided not to fill it out for my farm, and I’m leading a program teaching people how to fill out these reports,” George said. “That’s awful because I’m here building trust with USDA programs, and I’m not doing it for my own farm. . . . I don’t see a lot of value.”
The post Small Specialty Crop Growers Are Opting Out of Federal Farm Aid appeared first on Civil Eats.
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