USDA Chief Says CT Farm Grant Nearly Done After 16 Months

Connecticut farmers have waited more than 16 months for federal disaster relief funds to reach them. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told a House Appropriations subcommittee Thursday that the wait may finally be over, at least on paper.

“I think we are at the finish line for Connecticut after 30 meetings and a lot of back and forth,” Rollins said, responding to questions from Rosa DeLauro, the ranking member of the full House Appropriations Committee.

The exchange centered on Connecticut’s $53 million allocation from the Farm Recovery and Support Block Grant program, a $220 million federal initiative created to help small and midsized farmers in states that grow specialty crops and don’t benefit from the commodity-focused federal aid programs that typically favor larger agricultural states. Every New England state, plus Hawaii and Alaska, qualified for the funds. Connecticut’s share represents roughly a quarter of the total program.

Congress passed the disaster relief legislation in late 2024 in response to weather-related damages Connecticut farmers suffered during 2023 and 2024. Since then, the rollout has moved at a grinding pace. Negotiations between state and federal agriculture agencies stalled at several points, and a government shutdown last fall interrupted talks further. As of Thursday’s hearing, not a single dollar has reached eligible states.

DeLauro, who championed the creation of the block grant program, pressed Rollins directly on whether the Trump administration considers relief for smaller specialty crop states a genuine priority.

“It’s now been 16 months since the block grant was created, and to my knowledge, not a single dime has been allocated to the eligible states,” DeLauro said.

Rollins said she had checked on the program’s status that morning before the hearing and described the situation as close to resolution. She added that she had shared an elevator with Agriculture Undersecretary Richard Fordyce, who told her the Connecticut contract was at the finish line. When DeLauro pressed for a specific timeline, Rollins said it “should be very soon” and repeated that the program is moving.

DeLauro thanked Rollins for the response but made clear that urgency remains. Rollins offered her direct contact information to DeLauro for follow-up updates.

The Thursday exchange stood in notable contrast to a hearing from last spring, when DeLauro and Rollins clashed in a much sharper back-and-forth over the same program. At that point, the block grant was only a few months old and the friction between the two was more visible. Thursday’s conversation, while still pointed on substance, was considerably more civil in tone.

Connecticut’s agricultural community has been watching the process with considerable frustration. The state’s farming sector skews heavily toward specialty crops, including vegetables, fruit, and nursery products, which are precisely the kinds of operations the block grant was designed to reach. These farms rarely qualify for the commodity support programs that funnel large sums to Midwestern grain and livestock producers, making federal disaster relief like this program one of the few federal lifelines available when extreme weather hits.

The repeated delays, from bureaucratic negotiation to the government shutdown, have compounded pressure on farms that were already managing losses from weather events two and three years ago. For operations running on thin margins, that kind of wait carries real financial consequences.

What “at the finish line” means in practice is still unclear. The contract between Connecticut’s agriculture agency and the USDA must be finalized before the state can open applications and distribute funds to individual farmers. Until that contract is signed, Rollins’ assurances remain exactly that: assurances.

DeLauro’s persistence at Thursday’s hearing reflects both her long investment in the program and the ongoing accountability pressure that Connecticut’s farmers need someone in Washington to maintain. Whether the contract clears in days or stretches into weeks will determine whether “very soon” actually means something this time.