Concern grows for Kansas farmers, multiple grant programs put on hold
HARVEY COUNTY, Kan. (KSNW) — Kansas farmers are growing concerned as uncertainty lingers with multiple grant programs, and funding has been put on hold. KSN spoke to a dairy farmer in Harvey County who says two grants he had just been planning on receiving have been put on hold.
Jason Schmidt, the owner of Grazing Plains Farm, had been banking on those two grants, totaling nearly $100,000. But he has received emails in the past weeks saying they have been halted, leaving him questioning how to move forward.
'It gives me anxiety just thinking about that,' he said.
Schmidt, a fifth-generation dairy farmer in Harvey County, says his family has seen area dairy farms struggle. So, he got creative and applied for two agriculture grants.
'I came back to the farm with these grand ideas of how to keep the small farm relevant,' he said.
Schmidt says emails keep him updated, but his uncertainty continues.
'Thinking about being in a position of having to sell the farm, that's been in your family for generations,' he said.
A local group called Leading Kansas organized a rally in downtown Wichita, joining in more than 1,000 happening across the U.S. According to co-founder Katy Tyndell, they have yet to get Kansas leaders to address the growing worry.
'That's where we've heard crickets. They don't seem to have an answer. Everybody wants to talk about waste, fraud, and abuse, but when it comes right down to it, a lot of these cuts are hurting Kansans. Our elected officials have not seemed to answer for that,' Tyndell said.
In a statement about these freezes impacting Kansas agriculture, Kansas U.S. Representative Ron Estes says, 'With so much waste and fraud in our government, it's critical that the new administration review all spending to provide more efficient services for Kansas farmers and ranchers while working toward a level playing field and open markets, giving ag producers greater opportunities to sell their products around the globe.'
KSN also reached out to Kansas Senator Jerry Moran about the growing concerns. He says an option for farmers like Schmidt is the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program that provides agricultural producers with $10 billion in relief. Applications opened in late March.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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