Voices from the Field: The Real Costs of the Government Shutdown
While the longest federal government shutdown in US history has finally ended, its impacts on farmers, families, and communities nationwide are complex and ongoing. No two government shutdowns are identical since each Administration makes their own determination about what essential services and staff will continue to operate during the shutdown. Some federal services remain in operation, while many others go dark, though there is a consistent throughline – the longer a shutdown lasts, the more severe the disruptions become.
In a previous post, published near the start of the shutdown, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) outlined how the pause in government operations and furlough of employees at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) would impact agricultural programming and many important functions of the government, such as farm loan application approvals, conservation program reimbursement processing, …
