During the winter months, Greg Francisco brings his livestock indoors, transporting them from a pasture to a barn on his rural, southwestern Michigan farm in Paw Paw. That means the waste generated by his horse, his four oxen, and his 30 or so sheep and goats is concentrated to one area, rather than spread across his acreage as it is during warmer months.

Situated on the top of a rise that drains towards a small river that eventually leads to Lake Michigan, that volume of manure seemed like a potential hazard to Francisco. 

“I noticed I was getting significant runoff to the south and east. I also started thinking about the risk of having that much manure concentrated in one spot infiltrating down into the water table,” he said. “I feel an obligation to be a good steward of the land. To just do the right thing.”

So he applied for and received an Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) grant through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). He was familiar with the reimbursement-style grant because he had received a few previously, to add fencing to the property, to restore several acres to pasture, and to clear invasive species. 

He is still waiting on payment for the work completed on the fences and for addressing the invasive species. But his most recent grant, the one he had contracted with the NRCS to build a cesspool to mitigate the manure and utilize a draft-powered manure spreader, has been ensnared in the current administration’s federal funding freeze.

“It’s annoying,” he said. “We got the contract. We do the work. And they said you have to do the work even if you haven’t started yet.”

Francisco has reached out to his local representatives who have offered conflicting accounts on whether or not access to the funding has been restored. Despite being told funding would be made available, he still hasn’t seen anything.

“They’re not even responding now,” he said. “I just expect something back. Like, just acknowledge.”

Francisco is just one of thousands of EQIP contract holders who have experienced funding disruptions. EQIP grants reimburse landowners for agricultural and forest projects that address water and air quality, soil health, wildlife habitat creation and improvement, and drought resiliency.

As for his projects, Francisco said he plans to spread the manure but he isn’t sure yet if he’ll begin digging the cesspool without some certainty on the grant funding. He also fears the potential of being blacklisted in the future if he doesn’t do the work he agreed to do — even as funding has been cut off.

“I’ll probably just do it,” he said. “Nobody wants a big pile of manure in their backyard.”

The frustration Francisco is experiencing due to the funding disruption is new to him when it comes to federal grants. Previously the process has run smoothly. He and his wife used a few different grants and federal financing programs when they launched a wool mill on their farm in the late 90s. The market for raw wool processing was incredibly limited. Wait lists for processing were a year or longer, so they decided to start the mill. 

“Not only did we make a tidy living off of it, but it rippled back into the community,” Francisco said of their “big fish in a small pond” wool mill. “People with small flocks had a market for their fleece, either raw or processed into roving. Shepherds had money to buy feed and supplies. Land could be kept in production. It definitely has a ripple effect. It makes a difference.”

At the time, their farm focused on fine wool sheep. When they opened their mill, they quickly became known — nationally and internationally — as a supplier of roving, a type of  wool that is washed, dyed, combed, and ready to be spun. Producers with roving wool can sell it at a significant premium compared to raw wool.

“It really was a good deal for producers. We quickly rose to the top,” he said, emphasizing the value that comes with creating a market for producers. “Now, you’ve got a young kid who gets a blue ribbon at the fair and he wants to raise sheep. It just ripples out.”