CoolSculpting in Cope, SC

ORANGEBURG, S.C. - When President Donald Trump retook the White House, he ushered in major changes to longstanding federal policies and programs in every department, which meant canceling grants and ending programs.

Potentially, no industry was hurt harder than small farms that rely on state and federal grants and programs to produce the food that ends up at grocery stores and local restaurants.

James Ulmer III owns Ulmer Farms in Orangeburg County. He says his farm has been losing $4,000 a month after a recurring grant suddenly shut down in January.

“From January to now, we know that change is coming, and we are a little afraid to make certain decisions that we may not have the government assistance to help us through,” Ulmer said. “I can’t see long range; it’s hard to plan long range.”

They lost another major source of income when the Climate-Smart program was suddenly ended around the same time. That program allowed farmers to earn up to $30,000 for planting certain crops and adhering to specific, eco-friendly guidelines.

“And see, that was a good idea to put money back into agriculture and help to pull carbon out of the atmosphere,” Ulmer said. “If you had not been obligated to a check before January, you didn’t get a check.”

Many farmers had to buy specific seeds and equipment to qualify for Climate-Smart. Ulmer says those are expenses that would have been covered that now aren’t.

Another program that just went away was one that paid people called aggregators to purchase crops wholesale, straight from farmers.

“All he, the farmer, had to do was harvest and deliver. And that made it better for some farmers because they didn’t have the chance of losing a crop,” Ulmer said. “They were paid in advance. They had the money.”

Hope isn’t entirely lost for these farmers. Most of the grants that went away could come back. The grants were taken down while officials at the United States Department of Agriculture sifted through them for any language that might support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion principles. Some of the grants are being reworked to exclude DEI language and may return with a new name.

In the meantime, Ulmer works with a cooperative of about 50 rural farmers to support each other. The Rural Roots Collective Cooperative helps small farmers find funding opportunities, share equipment, purchase in bulk, and support each other during harvest season.

Gary Robinson with the Orangeburg Regional Innovation Center helps run the co-op that’s open to farmers, industry and community members.

“We’re trying to reduce the cost to our farmers while also increasing their revenues so they can survive, be sustainable, and at the same time give our communities good, healthy foods,” Robinson said.

Carol Jones at Ulmer Farms says the Trump Administration’s war on immigration has also created new problems.

“That has become another problem, finding enough farm workers to harvest as well,” Jones said. “When conditions were, quote, unquote, favorable, you were leery, and you go in now, and conditions are definitely unfavorable.”

Ulmer says he doesn’t know just yet how much damage the federal changes have done until later this year.