The Ag Department recently announced it will release approximately $20 million in funding for previously approved contracts that had been frozen by the Trump administration’s push to overhaul the federal government according to the agency.
The sum represents a tiny sliver of program funding the USDA suspended after the White House’s broad freeze of federal loans and grants last month.
Although the administration rescinded the memo ordering the freeze and it has been blocked in court, a U.S. judge has said the government was still withholding funds.
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said the released funds will go to honor contracts that were already made directly with farmers, according to a statement on the USDA’s website.
The USDA is releasing $20 million in contracts for the Environmental Quality Incentive Program, the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program.
