This op-ed was originally published in Hoard’s Dairyman. Since its initial publication, the financial uncertainty for farmers engaging in conservation practices has grown substantially. Ongoing trade negotiations, tariffs and blocked funding for existing U.S. Department of Agriculture contracts for conservation expenses and the uncertainty of future funding for conservation programs intensify the financial challenges faced by dairy farmers.
Dairy farmers are already part of a high-risk industry — the experience shared below shows how difficult it can be to align funding opportunities with farms’ financial needs. Now, farmers are being left to absorb that risk with less support. To continue producing food for their communities and responsibly stewarding natural resources, farmers will need more flexibility from financial institutions and greater investments from stakeholders advancing sustainable agriculture.
By Alice Crothers
When my husband and I moved to Maryland in 2015 to become the eighth generation to run the family dairy farm, we quickly realized we needed a strategic plan — we faced tremendous pressure to succeed for ourselves and, hopefully, future generations.
Sustainability became a core of our farming business to support our farm’s financials and steward our natural resources. But even with this central focus, we have faced significant financial challenges.
Many farmers have similar stories. They want to adopt pro-environment farm management but can’t secure accessible financing. If family dairy farms are to continue, we must increase financing options for conservation and preservation practices.
When we returned to our farm, we initially focused on cover crops and no-till planting through funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Maryland Department of Agriculture and guidance from the local Soil and Water Conservation District.
Soon, we expanded our efforts to include land preservation, stream restoration and forested buffers. Our farm contains a direct tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, allowing us to conduct a large stream restoration project with Appalachian Stream Restoration, Wetland Studies and the Alliance of the Chesapeake Bay.
“If family dairy farms are to continue, we must increase financing options for conservation and preservation practices.”
These successes led to the decision to install a digestor to capture methane and generate electricity for the farm. We were excited to be awarded an Animal Waste Technology grant through the Maryland Department of Agriculture for the installation. But we immediately faced another obstacle: the gap between the upfront project payments and the final grant payments, scheduled after one full year of operating. The bridge loans we could find had enormous interest rates — we would be carrying debt and racking up interest, potentially for years, until the digester was operational.
Like most farmers, I’m a problem solver. I wanted to make this opportunity work and started searching for a lower-interest loan. Since this was a construction project, lenders offered operating loans. We struggled to find anyone willing to create a unique opportunity for our project.
After weeks of calls, we were finally able to develop a loan with the Maryland Agricultural and Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation for the upfront funds, a low interest rate and a repayment schedule aligned with the grant. We broke ground for the digester in May 2024 and hope to be fully operational by summer 2025.
When I talk to other farmers about my experience, it’s clear I’m not alone. More farmers are proposing sustainability projects and being awarded funds but have to drop them because the economics don’t work. The result is a heartbreaking waste of time and resources for everyone involved. The U.S. dairy sector has ambitious environmental goals to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality, optimize water use and improve water quality. If we are to realize them, we must overcome these financing barriers.
Some solutions exist: a recent collaboration between the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, Environmental Defense Fund, dairy companies, cooperatives, agricultural finance institutions and farmers like me resulted in a recent report that offers eight models for financing sustainable dairy — several of which would have helped me navigate the digester project.
My husband and I view ourselves as stewards of the land. Our job is to manage the farm and pass it on so future generations can continue the work as we did. We’ve done our part and are so appreciative of the support from our partners. Now, we’re counting on others in the dairy and finance sectors to do theirs.
Alice Crothers and her husband own and operate Long Green Farms in Rising Sun, Maryland.