Lawrencia Rogers was six months into her dream when the rug got pulled out. The 33-year-old Iowan had just started a fellowship that gave her land, equipment, mentorship and a living wage to learn farming. Then, two and a half weeks in, the USDA yanked the $2.5 million grant funding her non-profit's program, calling it wasteful spending that violated the administration's stance against diversity initiatives.
Rogers, whose father is Egyptian, had been chosen for the fellowship alongside another participant who immigrated from Sudan, both selected because they were the most qualified applicants. The program that put her on a path to farming had no racial or cultural requirements to participate. It simply aimed to help underserved producers, including military veterans and newcomers with limited capital, get into agriculture.
"It felt like an extra slap in the face," Rogers said.
Her experience reflects a broader pattern unfolding across Iowa's farm country. The USDA, under secretary Brooke Rollins, has dismantled or frozen multiple programs designed to support small-scale producers while simultaneously laying off staff nationwide. The department lost 20,000 employees total since Trump returned to office, representing 17 percent of Iowa's USDA workforce.
The cancellations have cut deep. James Nisly, who raises chickens, vegetables and dairy south of Iowa City, lost 20 percent of his cashflow when the USDA killed a Biden-era program that purchased locally produced food for schools and food banks. Anna Pesek, a poultry, pig and flower farmer serving on the board of Iowa Valley RC&D, estimates she lost 10 percent of her farm income from similar program cancellations.
Nisly also experienced the department's unpredictability firsthand. He was awarded a grant last year for refrigerated trucks under the Resilient Food System Infrastructure program. Three days after his first purchase, the funds froze. They were unfrozen weeks later, but the uncertainty was nerve-racking.
When the USDA announced $1 billion in assistance earlier this year for specialty crop growers, farmer Carly McAndrews rushed to her local USDA office to apply. "Nobody knew how to help me, because they had just learned about it from the Trump administration, but the deadline was that Friday," she said. "It was like a functionless program, in my experience."
A USDA spokesperson said the department has "experienced no lapse in service to the American people" and that employees "continue to deliver high-quality services and programs without interruption."
The timing compounds existing strain on Iowa agriculture. The state ranks second nationally in soybean production, and Trump's tariffs on trading partners have sent China buying fewer U.S. soybeans. Prices have fallen as farmers scramble to find new buyers. The war with Iran has driven up costs for fertilizer, gasoline and diesel, the fuel powering Iowa's agricultural backbone.
The economic toll shows in bankruptcy filings. Iowa saw 18 farm bankruptcies in 2025, a 220 percent increase from the prior year and among the highest raw totals in the nation, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Iowa Valley RC&D's fellowship was part of a $300 million Biden-era initiative called the Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program. Jason Grimm, the non-profit's executive director, disputed the USDA's characterization of it as a DEI program. "There was no requirement of a specific cultural or racial background to be able to participate in our programs," he said. "You feel like a slingshot. You're just getting bounced back and forth."
A federal judge ordered the USDA to reinstate $127 million in grants previously awarded to Iowa Valley RC&D and other organizations nationwide last month. But the damage was already done. The fellowship has been placed on hold, curriculum development stalled and plans to bring on new trainees shelved.
The shifts at the USDA are raising alarm among agricultural officials who worked in the previous administration. Matt Russell, who served as a top USDA official in Iowa under Biden and now runs the Iowa Farmers Union, said the prior administration prioritized expanding the base of farmers supported and addressing the department's own history of discrimination.
"Can we get more farmers, can we get more Americans farming, can we get more diversity in Iowa, in American agriculture?" Russell said, describing the prior thinking. "I'm talking diversity of scale, diversity of crops, diversity of where things are being grown."
The population of rural Iowa has been declining for years. The average age of Iowa farmers is just under 58. The state imports most of its food because the focus remains on commodity crops. Participants graduating from programs like Rogers' fellowship typically find land or start businesses in smaller rural towns.
Pesek, the Iowa farmer and RC&D board member, summed up the challenge: "There's seemingly endless amounts of money for commodity production, and seemingly endless amounts of money to hand out to the handful of corporations controlling the majority of the agricultural landscape, and then no funding when it comes to programs that actually make money."
Rogers still has access to her eighth of an acre until December, but without the instruction she believes would have made her successful. She grows broccolini, lettuce and beans on land that was once tilled by poorhouse residents. It represents the closest she has come to her lifelong farming dream.
"I have never had a decision on such a level impact my life literally overnight in such a drastic way," Rogers said. "So, if that wasn't a rude awakening to pay more attention and maybe be more vocal or take more action, I don't know what could be."
Author James Rodriguez: "The USDA's funding freeze isn't abstract policy, it's real farmers losing their shot at survival in an industry that was already on life support."
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