In a post on X on February 14, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced it had ended an $8.2 million USDA contract as a “perfect Valentine’s gift for all taxpayers.”
That contract, Civil Eats has learned, was a key piece of infrastructure in the Biden-era Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program, which set up projects to pay farmers for implementing conservation practices. USDA contracted with the Clark Group to provide third-party review of certain practices.
Now, even if the courts or the Trump administration were to end the current freeze on grant payment disbursements, at least one farm group will not be able to make promised payments to farmers.
Pennsylvania-based Pasa Sustainable Agriculture is running a project that includes thousands of farmers across more than a dozen states. Without the participation of the Clark Group, director Hannah Smith-Brubaker said, project staff are unable to get the most popular farm practices approved. Therefore, they can’t make payments for things like fences and water lines, many of which farmers have already invested time and resources in.
DOGE’s own accounting shows that because the contractor had already been paid in full, canceling the contract resulted in $0 in taxpayer savings.
Smith-Brubaker reached out to House Agriculture Chairman G.T. Thompson (R-Pennsylvania) today to share her concerns. “How will we look in the eyes of dairy farmers, providing the whole milk for which you’ve advocated, and tell them that, to save the government $0, we have to cancel work that would have brought them more stability and more business?” she asked. (Link to this post.)
This is a developing story with more reporting to follow. Was your organization working with the Clark Group? Email tracker@civileats.com or message Lisa Held on Signal at @lisaelaineh.47.
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