US agroforestry projects--which have seen 6% increase in past five years--are facing significant disruptions on 90-day federal funding freeze, halting reimbursements, operations; freeze is causing financial hardship for farmers, particularly in Appalachia

April 1, 2025 (Mongabay News) –

Agroforestry, the ancient agricultural system of integrating trees and shrubs with crops and livestock, has seen a revival in recent decades in the U.S. Around the country, agroforestry projects have sprung up, bolstered by federal grants like the Department of Agriculture’s Climate-Smart Commodities program. Federal agencies have also partnered with nonprofits to provide training and resources for farmers interested in diversifying their crops, bolstering their soil, and sequestering carbon.

From 2017 to 2022, the number of agroforestry projects increased by 6% nationwide. The efforts had a ripple effect, providing new opportunities for communities to strengthen their local economy and bolster food systems.

But on Jan. 27, 2025 , the Trump administration issued an executive order to freeze federal funding over the next 90 days pending a review. This freeze included grants that went directly to agroforestry projects across the country. Reimbursement payments were halted for work already completed, pay was frozen, new hiring plans were canceled, and community services screeched to a stop.

As the review process plays out, farmers face mounting insecurity. As of today, it’s unclear when, or it, funding will be reinstated, leaving many communities uncertain about their future.

“Congress authorized and funded these programs to strengthen our economy, protect our health and allow us to continue enjoying nature’s bounty and beauty. It is essential that Congress ensures these funds are spent effectively and the programs function as intended,” conservation NGO The Nature Conservancy , which administers some federal grants, said in a public statement.

Appalachian agroforestry projects on hold

As the benefits of agroforestry have become clear, NGOs have cropped up around the country, offering guidance for projects in the unique geographies and plant species found within their regions. In 1995, the group Appalachian Sustainable Development (ASD) was formed to help tobacco farmers in the states of Tennessee and Virginia transition to fruit and vegetable production.

Over the past three decades, ASD has expanded into West Virginia , Kentucky and Ohio , with a mission to fight food insecurity, cultivate profitable opportunities for Appalachian farmers and communities, and protect the environment.

Heading into their 30^th anniversary year, ASD staff members were excited about the future. “We were setting the stage for this big, bold 30-year celebration and thinking about what the next 30 years would look like, starting with our five-year plan,” says Katie Commender, director of agroforestry for ASD. But these plans, along with their funding, were put on hold only a few weeks later.

Commender says that on Feb. 5 , ASD was told its forest landowner support grant from the U.S. Forest Service was part of the review. “They essentially said that we could invoice, but they were not able to make payments at that time and that we should proceed with our scope of work outlined in our grant agreement at our own risk.”

The following week, ASD learned that two other federal grants for the agroforestry department were frozen: the Climate Smart Commodities/The Nature Conservancy grant and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation /America the Beautiful challenge grant.

“Within the first two weeks of February, we found out that we had about $1.25 million in federal grants that were supposed to help get us through 2028 [that] were frozen,” Commender says.

Several agroforestry initiatives are affected by the funding freeze, but two major ASD programs stand out: the Appalachian Harvest Food Box Program and the Harvest Herb Hub . The grant for the Harvest Food Box pays local and regional farmers for fresh, nutritious food to make up 2,000 food boxes that are donated to individuals and food pantries.

“[The Harvest Food Box program] has a really great impact — it creates a new market for those farmers,” Commender says. “Every Friday, there’s a line of cars wrapped around our building of folks waiting for their food box.” She says the program is one of the oldest food hubs in the country, but without the grant’s cash flow for reimbursements, they’ve had to cease operations entirely.

Farmers like David Wallace , a third-generation farmer and owner of Reeds Valley Farm in southwest Virginia , says the food box program was critical for his rural community deep in the Appalachian Mountains .

“We’re kind of a food desert here — there’s no row crops, no vegetables grown,” he explains. “There are thousands of people that rely on Appalachian food boxes.” Wallace calls the program “amazing.”

He’s adds, “That’s no more.”

Wallace raises beef cattle and is also a medicinal herb farmer in the Harvest Herb Hub program. About seven years ago, he decided to diversify his farm, adding field-grown medicinal herbs to his commodities. Over time, the herb harvesting extended into the Appalachian woodlands, a common activity for those living in this region.

“I’m deep in the Appalachian Mountains ,” Wallace says. “All my friends and the people around me have always picked.” Today, wild herb harvesting has reached new levels with the assistance the Harvest Herb Hub program.

The Harvest Herb Hub is the first program of its kind in the country. “Essentially, the goal is to help medicinal herb farmers who are largely growing their herbs in agroforestry systems, whether it’s alley cropping systems for field-grown herbs or forest farming for shade-loving forest botanicals like American ginseng and goldenseal to help them expand their business and increase their profitability,” Commender says.

The Harvest Herb Hub offers assistance and guidance to farmers on everything from sustainable and traceable harvesting to the processing and marketing of herb projects — what Commender calls “seed to sale.” It also provides shared equipment, including root washers, herb dryers and millers at a facility in Duffield, Virginia .

“The goal is to reduce farmers’ labor costs,” Commender says. “We’re improving efficiency and also enhancing the quality of the herbs that are being processed so that it can meet specifications for the herbal products industry.”

This assistance means harvesters can get a higher price for their products.

“Through ASD, we bring companies in from all around the world, and we tell them why they should pay more for these herbs and the benefits of what they’re getting,” Wallace says. He adds ASD’s marketing help has been invaluable for Appalachian harvesters.

Wallace says the Harvest Herb Hub plays an important role in his former coal town and the residents nearby. “There’s whole communities that rely on this,” he says. “If this funding’s cut, I don’t really know where we go from here.”

And it’s not just forest commodities that have been affected by the freeze. In the rich farmland of Loudoun county , Virginia , ninth-generation farmer Sara Brown is also feeling the pressure. She and her business partner, Eliza Greenman , had big silvopasture plans for a 30-acre (12-hectare) plot on her cattle farm.

Brown says they planned on putting in chestnut trees, which “propagate like crazy and are great culinary nuts — but they’re also very good fodder for animals.” The chestnuts would be planted in an area with persimmons and mulberries, further diversifying the crops and food system. Mulberries, as it turns out, are a particular favorite of her cows; after clipping back some particularly robust mulberry leaves last year, they discovered a surprise. “The cows went nuts,” for the leaves, Brown recalls — a good sign for future silvopasture grazing on the 30 acres.

But their planting plan has been thwarted.

“Over the next 18 months, we were meant to have planted 3,600 trees,” Brown says. However, the expected $225,000 in funding provided by federal grants for the project is now in limbo, and reimbursements are stalled.

“The trees are currently in a location where they must be moved or they will not survive,” Brown says. So she decided to take on some of the financial and labor risk herself. “I’m going to outlay some of my own money, a lot of my own effort — my hours and hands,” and try to plant herself, she says. “I’m in the fish or cut bait point in my life. Honestly, it’s been very stressful.”

Brown notes that while she farms, she also has a job as a federal contractor, making her financial situation a bit less precarious. “I sit in a position of privilege; I’m going to be fine,” she says. “A lot of other people will not be and that is one of the reasons I am very terrified.”

As spring begins to bloom, the pressures on farmers are building. ASD staff have pivoted from spring planting to sharing farmers’ stories and getting the word out about what funding freezes mean for communities. Commender encourages the general public to call their elected officials.

“Ask for the grant freeze to be terminated so that we can continue all of this good work,” she says.

“We don’t have a crystal ball to know what’s going to happen after this 90-day review period,” she adds. “I think it’s that uncertainty and the stalling that has really weighed heavily on farmers.”

Banner image: Harvested American ginseng. Image by Amy Shumaker .

New U.S. agroforestry project will pay farmers to expand ‘climate-smart’ acres

Citation:

Kellerman, T., Feibel, S., Smith, M. M., Bentrup, G., Batcheler, M., & MacFarland, K. (2025). Agroforestry across the United States : Results of the 2022 Census of Agriculture. Agroforestry Systems, 99(2). doi:10.1007/s10457-024-01096-2

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