“It’s very unsettling and very stressful,” said Ben Palen over the phone while driving his truck in rural Kansas. He’s a fifth-generation farmer whose family has been working the land since 1855. And he’s alarmed by the Trump administration’s recent cuts to programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
In the last two months, the Department of Government Efficiency, led by billionaire Elon Musk, has eliminated USDA programs to encourage better conservation practices and USAID’s Food for Peace program, which put money in the pockets of many farmers across the country.
