April 21, 2025<\/b> \u2013 Last week, Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) met with farmers at Moon Valley Farm in Woodsboro, Maryland, where livestock, vegetable, and grain growers expressed concerns about frozen<\/a> USDA programs, the impacts of tariffs<\/a>, and other challenges.<\/p>\n Van Hollen said that he set up the roundtable because farmers have been calling and writing to his office\u2014especially about tariffs and the cancellation of funding<\/a> for programs that connect small farms to schools and food banks\u2014and his purpose was to hear more of their stories.<\/p>\n \u201cThe freeze on payments under the farm-to-school program is outrageous,\u201d he said at the event. \u201cWe will fight this in the courts. We will fight this in Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n Senator Chris Van Hollen (left) listens to farmer-brewer Tom Barse of Milkhouse Brewery (right) at Stillpoint Farm talk about \u201ctrying to find a way to continue to make a living as a small farm.\u201d (Photo credit: Lisa Held)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It was one of several agricultural roundtables and town halls that lawmakers are holding across the country during Congress\u2019 two-week recess, which ends later this week. Politico reported<\/a> that Senators Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Adam Schiff (D-California) would all be gathering feedback from farmers over the break.<\/p>\n One farmer told Civil Eats he attended an invite-only event that Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) held in her state, where representatives of both the Minnesota Farm Bureau and Minnesota Farmers\u2019 Union were present. He attended to call her attention to the still-frozen Farm Labor Stabilization Program<\/a>. In Maine, Representative Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) marched alongside farmers<\/a> protesting USDA cuts to funding and staff.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Senator](\"https:\/\/civileats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/250421-congress-farmers-town-hall-recess-hearings-funding-freeze-cuts-climate-school-food-1-top-credit-lisa-held.jpg\")
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