USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a new initiative in Tennessee to end subsidies for solar and wind projects on farmland, arguing they take away valuable agricultural ground.
Speaking at a Future Farmers of America breakfast, Rollins said the move would protect family farms and ensure land remains available for food production. She criticized the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, claiming its incentives for renewable energy projects are destroying prime farmland, though a state study recently concluded that solar development is unlikely to be a major driver of farmland loss.
The administration is also reducing agriculture-related higher education funding, including over $31 million eliminated from the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. Rollins defended the cuts as a “repurposing” to prioritize programs that directly increase farmer income, while ending grants tied to clean energy or race-based criteria. At the same time, Rollins announced $89 million in new rural development projects across 28 counties and highlighted nearly $100 million already distributed to farmers through emergency assistance programs.
Photo Credit: USDA
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