Mike Protas thought he and the federal government had a deal.

He took out a $100,000 loan for solar panels that he felt would benefit the environment and reduce energy costs at his western Montgomery County farm. A grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture was supposed to cover half the cost.

The panels were installed on the roof of his barn in December. But since President Donald Trump paused trillions of dollars in federal spending, it’s no longer clear who will pay for the solar panels.

If the funding doesn’t arrive, Protas said, it would be “catastrophic” for his 34-acre vegetable farm.

In an industry where margins are already razor-thin and vulnerable to market swings and a changing climate, the funding freeze has undermined trust in one of agriculture’s most vital and stable supports: the federal government. Farmers don’t know if promised USDA funding will materialize for projects ranging from solar panels and windbreaks to online marketing. And they’re unsure when they’ll be able to rely on it again.

“This is going to put a serious damper on me ever applying for any sort of grant assistance to expand my business,” Protas said.

Shortly after Trump took office, his administration issued a series of sweeping — and potentially unlawful — directives freezing federal spending, citing the need to root out “tremendous waste and fraud and abuse.” One of Trump’s early targets was the Inflation Reduction Act, a landmark clean-energy law passed with bipartisan support under former President Joe Biden that offered farmers financial assistance to make environmental upgrades.

Many Maryland farmers said USDA grants and loans are vital to starting their farms or scaling their operations because they don’t have access to traditional capital.

“They’re dream-makers,” said Nick Healy, explaining that without a low-interest USDA loan he and his girlfriend couldn’t have started their organic vegetable farm in northern Baltimore County. A recent $11,000 grant paid for greenhouse tunnels allowing Healy to grow vegetables in colder months, which Healy predicts will generate thousands more in revenue.

Farmers explained that securing federal grants involves a tedious, monthslong process of completing paperwork, collecting signatures and waiting for approval. In many cases, farmers must pay some or all costs upfront and demonstrate they’ve used the funds as intended before the government reimburses them.

Alex Mudry-Till, a cut-flower farmer in Waldorf, said there is a misperception “that government money is being thrown around willy-nilly to whomever. There is a lot of oversight that happens to have these grants happen for these farmers.”

Multiple judges have blocked Trump’s efforts to pause spending, and, last week, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins released $20 million of the frozen Inflation Reduction Act funds.

In a statement calling farmers the “backbone of our nation,“ Rollins said Thursday that the department is reviewing funding from the Inflation Reduction Act.

“Unfortunately, the Biden administration rushed out hundreds of millions of dollars of IRA funding that was supposed to be distributed over eight years,” Rollins said. “After careful review, it is clear that some of this funding went to programs that had nothing to do with agriculture — that is why we are still reviewing — whereas other funding was directed to farmers and ranchers who have since made investments in these programs.

“We will honor our commitments to American farmers and ranchers, and we will ensure they have the support they need to be the most competitive in the world,” Rollins continued, adding the $20 million was just the first round reviewed.

Still parts of the $19.5 billion allocated to farming conservation programs under the law remains in limbo. And many Maryland farmers said they’re still unable to access their promised funds.

Elisa Lane grows flowers for weddings and other events on her Carroll County farm. She was excited to find a USDA program that promised to pay tens of thousands of dollars for a solar installation on her land.

The solar panels haven’t been installed yet, but Lane is already out $30,000 — nearly half the project’s total cost. She said she can’t afford the rest.

“The well-being of our farm is at stake,” she said.

Farmers turn to government grants not just for expensive energy projects, but other essential upgrades.

Mudry-Till received a partial payment for a grant to install low tunnels to help growing flowers during the winter months, aligning with Valentine’s Day and other lucrative holidays. But she doesn’t expect the other funds to come through.

She has not yet received money for other grants that would help with protecting her crops from wind damage, pollinating her fields and redesigning her website.

Mudry-Till described the precariousness of the situation as “terrifying.”

“It just sucks,” Mudry-Till said.

It’s not just money. Since taking office, the Trump administration has fired large swaths of the federal workforce, including cutting off support for farmers at the USDA.

One recently fired staffer in Maryland worked for a USDA office designed to help farmers with sustainability and conservation projects. The employee, a former farmer who requested anonymity to speak with The Banner for fear of retribution, said almost 20 people on his team in Maryland were fired this month.

The USDA worker described having a full workload, leaving a dozen or more ongoing projects when fired. The projects included efforts to reduce soil erosion and curb runoff from animal farms, a major driver of Chesapeake Bay pollution — all while improving productivity.

“This is all pretty nuts and bolts stuff,” the employee said.

Even before these firings, this USDA office faced a backlog of projects for Maryland farmers, according to Parker Welch, executive director of the Maryland Farm Bureau. Staffing cuts could exacerbate the issue.

Welch said he and his members have been trying to get clarity on the long-term impacts of Trump’s actions, including whether the freeze on the USDA’s Inflation Reduction Act funding will amount to a short-term pause or an outright funding cut.

But the Farm Bureau head added that the agency’s decision last week to release a tranche of the frozen funds looked like a step in the right direction.

Maryland farmers could have a powerful advocate in Washington: Rep. Andy Harris, the state’s lone Republican in Congress, is a loyal Trump ally who also chairs an agriculture-related House of Representatives subcommittee.

But Laura Beth Resnick, whose Harford County flower farm is in Harris’ district, hasn’t had much luck appealing to him for help.

When Resnick reached out to Harris’ office this month, she got an email back from the congressman thanking her for the note. He also assured her that her worries were overblown.

“Unsurprisingly, liberal politicians and pundits rushed to push false narratives about the memo to strike up concerns that it would somehow impact” programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and programs for small businesses or farmers, an email signed by Harris told Resnick after she reached out to the congressional office.

A spokesperson for Harris did not respond to a request for comment.

“We built what we have with the help of the government, honestly,” said Resnick, who started her small cut-flower farm when she was 23 and has depended on federal support to keep the place running ever since. Since first speaking out on Instagram, she’s heard from many farmers experiencing the same thing.

“People are freaking out,” she said.

Even farmers who haven’t been directly affected by the freeze, like Healy in Baltimore County, have taken their concerns to Congress, attending a House Committee on Agriculture hearing on Capitol Hill earlier this month. But Healy said the group walked away disappointed that deliberations seemed to devolve into partisan bickering.

For others, it’s hard to comprehend that the agency they’ve long relied on wouldn’t follow through.

Protas, the Montgomery County farmer, remains optimistic.

“The most basic thing the government can do is honor their contracts,” he said. “It just seems beyond the ability to understand how that couldn’t happen. So I just assume it will.”