Elon’s chain saw comes for the farm

March is finally here, and that means we’re chomping at the bit for planting season. On my farm and those around me, we’re making sure everything — and everyone — is ready to roll as soon as the weather and the crop insurance companies give us the green light. The seed is being delivered, the grease and oil applied, the fuel tanks filled.

Spring is always a season of possibility and hope for farmers. We’re eternal optimists. But we also know that no amount of hoping and wishing will change the realities of the agricultural system. We can go broke while our input suppliers and the multinational companies who buy our grain and livestock make record profits.

One of the biggest risks we calculate each season is the role of federal funding, policy, and federal workers in the fate of our operations. We all know how closely we work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). We go to our county offices for many things: payments when our prices or production aren’t up to snuff, loans when no banks will give them to us, help for limiting soil erosion and restoring wildlife habitat, crop insurance, export assistance … the list goes on.

That’s why I am incredibly concerned about what has been going on at President Donald Trump’s USDA in the last few weeks, in particular Elon Musk’s chain saw approach to government agencies. When was the last time Musk got his hands dirty or tried to grow a crop? What we’re seeing is Musk cutting us to the bone, and that ain’t right. We can all agree that things should be efficient, but this is chaos.

Thousands of USDA staff have been cut. Closure is likely for 58 FSA and NRCS offices across the country. Millions of dollars in funding for farmer-driven projects are being withheld. Farmers who did their part and shelled out thousands of dollars to implement conservation practices are not being repaid. The Iowa Soybean Association, Practical Farmers of Iowa, and Conservation Districts of Iowa are all waiting on millions in payments, and I know of fellow Iowa CCI members who farm are beyond nervous.

With this reality, you’d expect every Republican, Democrat, and Independent politician to demand a course correction at USDA. They need to lead USDA down a path of better support for farmers and rural people, more investment across rural America, and more shared prosperity for all of us no matter where we live.

Yet none of Iowa’s representatives are speaking out against these Trump-Musk job cuts and freezing of USDA funds. Neither are our Senators. Sen. Chuck Grassley has said he doesn’t think “farmers have anything to worry about,” and "this is what the voters wanted." That’s not leadership.

It’s time for Iowa’s elected officials to get in the fight and do what’s right. It’s time for them to tell Trump and the USDA to keep funding the services and contracts. When we go to our county USDA offices, there should be workers there, empowered to do their jobs and fulfill the promises made to all of us.

Barb Kalbach is a fourth generation family farmer in Adair County, a retired registered nurse, and a board member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. barbnealkalbach@gmail.com