Months after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) canceled and then drastically restructured a grant program, local researchers are trying to understand what's happening.
"It really feels like they are just coming up with these new rules in order to prevent us from getting an award," said Stefanie Kortman, a researcher at Cal State Monterey Bay (CSUMB) whose lab group is one of the grant recipients.
Kortman and her supervisor learned in April that they had to re-apply for the $5 million grant they received in 2023. That money was for testing climate-friendly farming practices—at a research site and on small farms.
The researchers partnered with the Monterey County Resource Conservation District (RCD) to work directly with the farmers.
"That initial contract was that all of the payments were being administered and doled out by the RCD," Kortman said. "We weren’t doing any of it."
So she was shocked when an email from the USDA that landed in her inbox on July 1 stated the new rules require the university—not the RCD—to pay farmers. Not only that, but these rules would apply retroactively to money they had already spent.
"Neither of those points were ever made anywhere at any time whatsoever," Kortman said.
Her supervisor replied to the email asking for clarification, but the USDA employee said he didn’t have anything in writing.
"They don't have written guidance for something this critical and never communicated it to us until we submitted our application," Kortman said.
In a statement, a USDA spokesperson said the new program prioritizes direct payments to farmers.
"This will cut bureaucratic red tape, streamline reporting, lower the paperwork burden on producers and put farmers first," the statement said.
Kortman’s lab group appealed their grant’s initial termination. There will be a pre-trial hearing within the next two months, according to Kortman.
CSUMB holds the broadcast license for KAZU.
