Action Alert: Ask Your Federal Representatives to Support the HONOR FARMER CONTRACTS ACT

You can find your federal representatives by typing in your zip code at congress.gov.

Farm friends, it's time to speak up.

For months, federal payments to farmers and farm support organizations that were obligated by legal contracts have been held up in a bizarre limbo between Executive Orders, court decisions countering them, and adminstrative decisions made internally at United States Department of Agriculture agencies. Meanwhile, planting season is here and farmers need certainty, as do the organizations that support them with technical assistance and education.

Now a solution has finally been proposed in the federal legislature. Last week, on March 27, the Honor Farmer Contracts Act was introduced in the Senate. A similar bill is likely to be introduced in the House of Representatives this week. Michael Fields Agricultural Institute has signed on to a letter of support to Congress with 352 other farm and food organizations. Here's an article from The Cheese Reporter for more context.

This Act would do a number of things:

-require USDA to honor already signed contracts and agreements

-require USDA to make past-due payments quickly

-prohibit USDA from cancelling contracts or agreements with farmers or organizations unless there has been a breach of terms or conditions

-prohibit the closure of USDA agency offices (Farm Service Agency , Natural Resources Conservation Service and Rural Development Service) unless a 60-day notice is provided

"As the most productive season of the year approaches, farmers and rural communities cannot afford further delays -- without urgent action to reinstate these contracts, farms and organizations risk laying off workers, missing the planting season, or shutting down entirely," reads part of the letter. "We urge you to support the swift passage of this important legislation."

Much harm has already been done. Farmers have invested money in infrastructure, equipment, and seeds for 2025 practices that they legally agreed to implement and be re-imbursed for through the USDA. Organizations have paid wages for employees that are working on USDA projects and have not been re-imbursed. As the uncertainty drags on, the impact cuts deeper.

This issue is deeply personal for the Institute. We are owed several cycles worth of re-imbursement payments from USDA. Because of the fiscal situation this has created, we have been forced to make the heartbreaking decision to lay off two employees that have been doing good work with our highly successful Wisconsin Women in Conservation and Milwaukee Urban Agriculture Network projects.

You can help! Please CALL your federal representatives NOW and tell them to support the Honor Farmer Contracts Act. Calls are in fact the MOST effective way to reach your members of Congress. Even just leaving a message on the line helps communicate the urgency of this moment. If you need help developing a script of what to say, reach out to mkrome@michaelfields.org or 608-628-2503 for a brief training.

Find your members of Congress here

This is not fundamentally a partisan issue, it is in fact a legal issue and represents a grave misunderstanding of how farm programs work. First, these are signed contracts that obligate farmers and organizations to implement certain practices or do certain work. Farmers and orgs are living up to their end of the bargain and going in the hole to do it. Second, these are re-imbursement projects: the time and money has already been spent by individuals and groups in the ag community that operate on perpetually slim margins. Third, while the various branches of government sort the issue out, non-reversible harm is being done to farms, farmers, and farm communities because Spring is here and the seasons don't stop for political arguments.

One thing we can ALL agree on is that we can't afford to lose more farms in America. If you have been personally harmed by the freeze on payments, and you want to tell your story to a wider audience and make an impact, please do reach out to Michael Fields Agricultural Institute and we will help you appeal to your representatives, write a letter to the editor, craft a video message, or get you on a podcast to tell the story. Contact Policy Director Margaret Krome at mkrome@michaelfields.org or 608-628-2503.

Iowa County Farmer Michael Dolan of Seven Seeds Farm speaking at an Uplands Watershed Producer-Led Group meeting facilitated by MFAI.

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