The last three weeks have been tumultuous and uncertain for farmers, community members, MOFGA staff, and our partners as we’ve been navigating federal funding freezes and the uncertainty of the legality of executive orders that are having sweeping impacts.
MOFGA receives funding through 14 federal programs. In 2025, we have about $1 million in our budget that should come from these federal programs. You can see the full listing, and their current status, below. Most of these funds are multi-year grants, and many of them include pass-through funds that go directly to farmers to help them sustain their businesses. There will be ongoing impacts for our farmers if these programs are no longer available.
MOFGA staff and board members have been working diligently to carry on the day-to-day operations of MOFGA while also making contingency plans and advocating for these United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs that are critical to the future of food and agriculture in the United States.
The uncertainty and the barrage of information and actions that are coming our way are meant to overwhelm us, take up our energy and resources, and pull us away from our mission-oriented work. We will not let that happen. We are not alone in our work, and we will come together with our community members, our partner organizations, and allies to protect and strengthen the critical tasks necessary to create an organic future.
My friend Bonnie Rukin reminded me recently that “every seed that we plant is an act of resistance. Every time a farmer makes a plan for the coming season, they are doing so as an act of hope in the face of uncertainty.” We will get through this together, and I look forward to collaborating with you all in response to this moment, coming together just as the MOFGA community has done for every other moment of uncertainty within the organization’s history.
In addition to planting seeds, you can also call or email your members of congress and ask them to fight for our farmers and our future. You can also renew or become a MOFGA member, to help give us the day-to-day resources we need to support our farmers, empower people to feed their communities, and advocate for an organic future.
Onward together,
Sarah Alexander, Executive Director
Federal USDA programs that MOFGA currently has contracts or grants for, and what the status of our ability to access our funding is:
FMLFPP — Farmers Market and Local Foods Promotion Program. On hold — we have reimbursements submitted for work that was already completed that are not being paid.
NRCS — Natural Resources Conservation Service. On hold — we have reimbursements submitted for work that was already completed that are not being paid.
OMDG — Organic Market Development Grant. We have received one reimbursement for work that has been completed in 2025, and have also been told that “funds are currently on hold until further notice.” The award is for a regional partnership through the Northeast Organic Family Farming Partnership, focused on organic dairy, and the total award has impacts beyond MOFGA.
RMA — Risk Management Agency. We have an RMA subaward from the University of Maine and were told that this funding is paused.
TOPP — Transition to Organic Partnership Program. We’ve received mixed messages and it’s not clear whether funding is available at this time.
CSC — Climate Smart Commodities. It is unclear whether funds are paused currently. Last year we piloted the program by helping 19 Maine farmers access $154,248 to pay for conservation practices (planting hedgerows, cover cropping, etc.). Our plan has been to help 45 farmers access about $350,000 in 2025 and the project is supposed to continue until 2028. Even if funds aren’t currently paused, we can’t move forward with this work. It would be a waste of farmers’ trust and time to help them work towards accessing funds that may not actually be available to them.
BFRDP — Beginning Farmer & Rancher Development Program. We are currently still able to access funds.
DBIC — Dairy Business Innovation Center. Currently still able to access funds
ERME – Extension Risk Management Education We are currently still able to access funds.
SARE — Sustainable Ag Research & Education. We are currently still able to access funds.
Specialty Crop Block Grant. We have an $87,190 specialty crop block grant that is essentially pass-thru grants for farmers. We have reviewed farmer applications and these are grants where we would reimburse farmers for their purchases and then ask the grant administrator (Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry) to reimburse us. We are unable to move forward with this work and notify awardees when DACF tells us that they can’t guarantee that these funds will be available to use.
We know our experience is not isolated and that many of the other food and farm nonprofits in Maine and New England (and across the country) are experiencing the same thing.
