Farm Labor Grantees Warn Funding Freeze Risks Bankruptcy (1)

Frozen payments from a $50 million grant program designed to expand legal agriculture labor pathways have put some farms at risk of going bankrupt and shutting down, a coalition of recipient farmers are warning.

Participants in grants under the US Agriculture Department’s Farm Labor Stabilization and Protection Pilot Program—or FLSP—sought assurances that access to funds for legally recruiting and retaining farm workers will be restored in a Thursday letter addressing Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and exclusively shared with Bloomberg Government.

The agriculture industry has long suffered from labor shortages. Rollins suggested during her Senate confirmation hearing this year the shortfalls ...