Federal budget cuts through the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), are hitting home, especially in Rock County agriculture offices.
“It’s been chaos,” said Doug Bos, assistant director of the Rock County Land Management.
“We were ramped up for a big conservation program rollout and now we’re scrambling to know what to do from here.”
He said he and his colleagues were in the process of administering a $30 million soil conservation project affecting roughly 500 producers in row crop areas of Minnesota.
“We were all teed up to deliver these funds to farmers for soil health practices, and now they’re on hold,” Bos said.
“They would have resulted in more protection for soil and water … and now each of these producers has to decide for themselves what they’re going to do.”
Bos spent time with Congressman Brad Finstad’s staff Friday explaining the effects of the funding cuts midway through program administration after months of planning.
“When they froze federal funding, they froze our soil health rollout in south and western Minnesota. … This is definitely not waste,” Bos said, referring to the DOGE mission of rooting out government waste.
“I explained that these practices, especially since we’re seeing more extreme weather events, are what farmers need to grow a crop and navigate climate challenges.”
He compared modern soil health practices, such as no-till, strip-till and cover crops, to programs introduced during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s to promote sustainable farming.
“You cut funding and you’re taking away the assistance for farmers to transition to these practices,” Bos said.
“The younger farmers are the most disadvantaged by the loss. … Their bankers may not let them try soil health practices without cost share funds to take away some risk.”
Ultimately, he said, soil and water quality will suffer as a result of the cuts.
Also affected by DOGE funding cuts are programs for manure management.
“Rock County has three feedlots in limbo because funding was frozen for their projects,” Bos said.
He said each project, valued at up to $500,000 apiece, would play a role in water quality and reducing nitrate runoff.
“They were all to improve manure storage so that producers could apply when conditions are right,” Bos said.
NRCS layoffs
While the funding freeze for key programs was a blow, Bos said federal staff layoffs will likely have a broader impact on local ag producers.
There is a hiring freeze in the Farm Service Agency, which comes at a bad time for Rock County where director Eva Kramer recently transferred to Iowa and her position hasn’t yet been filled.
The regional Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) lost half its staff — 12 workers in the 19-county area of Area 5 in southwest Minnesota. Some counties are left with no staff.
Rock County has only one NRCS staff person, Dylan Bartels, who recently started in Luverne.
“He’s a great guy; I talked him into coming here from northwest Iowa,” Bos said about Bartels. “Now there’s a fear that we may lose him, the only person we have in NRCS.”
The result of lost NRCS staff, Bos said, is that there will be no one to answer questions about federal funding and no one to help administer programs.
“The funding and technical assistance provided by NRCS staff has made a big difference in farmers learning how to utilize these practices,” he said.
Ultimately, Bos said it’s about ensuring viability for future farmers.
“Without the next generation coming into farming, we will continue to lose small businesses, churches, schools and subsequently small towns,” he said.
“We need to continue to provide support for the next generation to transition into farming.”
