A Hereford cow stands Thursday afternoon inside a corral at Old Crow Ranch and farm store on Davis Road in Durham. Owners  Seren and Steve Sinisi are more than concerned about the federal funding freeze that is increasingly causing angst down on the pasture-based livestock farm where they raise cattle, pigs and chickens. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

DURHAM — The trees are felled in an area set aside for a small solar array scheduled to be installed in June. The grant contract is signed, the loan for the balance is approved and the down payment has been paid.

Seren and Steve Sinisi own and operate Old Crow Ranch and a farm store in Durham. It’s a pasture-based livestock farm where they raise cattle, pigs and some chickens.

The Sinisis are more than concerned about the current federal funding freeze that is increasingly causing angst down on the farm. They are anxious, even angry.

“We have borrowed $15,000 already to pay the down payment to get in the queue for the project,” Seren Sinisi said Thursday morning. The project is a solar array to sustainably power the farm. The Sinisis applied for and won a grant last September from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through its Rural Energy for America Program, or REAP.

“It would offset our project by almost 40% and make our loan that we have to take to do the project affordable for us,” Sinisi explained, noting that overall cost of the project is $85,000 and would be out of reach without the grant.

Seren Sinisi carries cartons of eggs Thursday morning from the walk-in cooler to restock her store’s retail refrigerator at Old Crow Ranch and farm store in Durham. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

“The irony is, I pay Central Maine Power, which is owned by a Spanish company,” Steve Sinisi said. “Here I am trying to support American jobs and be sustainable in our electricity usage in America … that story needs to be told.”

According to the USDA, REAP provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and small rural businesses for renewable energy systems.

Just seven days into his second term as president, Donald Trump issued a memo directing federal agencies to temporarily pause spending on federal financial assistance programs.

In a letter to newly appointed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins earlier this month, Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Commissioner Amanda Beal said, “The continued delay of these funds could have significant economic consequences for Maine’s agricultural sector, which operates on tight margins and depends on timely financial support to sustain operations.”

“I talked to Rural Development yesterday — they know nothing,” Seren Sinisi said. “They are giving us the same line … their hands are tied because everything is in freeze mode.”

The Sinisis are frustrated but have a few months leeway before they have to make a decision on whether to abandon the project and lose their down payment or see the funding freeze resolved.

“We’re not in as bad a predicament as some other farmers in Maine are right now,” Sinisi said. She’s talking about farmers highlighted by the Portland Press Herald recently whose project is completed but the reimbursement is being held up, putting the farm’s future in jeopardy.

Steve Sinisi says it’s not just the rural energy program that’s been frozen — they also get funding from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

“It covers a broad swath of practices that farmers use to be sustainable, to protect water, air, conservation, soil and other practices that help us be better stewards of the land,” he said.

Three generations of Bells stand behind a sack of potatoes Thursday morning at the longtime Bell Farms Inc. on Riverside Drive in Auburn. From left are Ray Bell, Ethan Bell, Shane Bell, Molly Bell and Dave Bell. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

The Bell family has been farming in Maine for over 100 years, most of that time in Auburn, Lewiston and Durham, where they raise mostly potatoes on 150 acres. While they said they absolutely support the young farmers getting established, they have a different perspective to offer.

“You have to be patient in the farming business,” Ray Bell said Thursday afternoon from the Auburn operation. Bell Farms doesn’t have any grants or loans through USDA currently, but they have in the past, and say they understand what other farmers are going through.

Molly Bell acknowledges that young or new farmers in Maine rely on federal funding to help pay the bills. “We’re fortunate this is not affecting us, not right now,” she said.

Dave Bell sorts potatoes Thursday morning at Bell Farms Inc. on Riverside Drive in Auburn. The Bells say patience is a necessity in farming. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

“We’ve been around a long time,” Dave Bell added. He said markets and marketing are the magic potion. “It’s nice to get funding. It takes decades to build markets for your products … if we can all grow to a market, it’s a win for everyone.”

Ray Bell stands with a sack of potatoes Thursday morning inside one of the cold storage warehouses at the longtime family farm, Bell Farms Inc. on Riverside Drive in Auburn. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

The Bells point out that Canadian and Mexican products are in competition with Maine farmers — they’re in the market.

Shane Bell commented that farming is not the same business as it was decades ago. There is a lot of bureaucracy; there are permitting and conservation requirements that make it more difficult to get things done.

For now, the Bells’ advice is to be calm, be patient and hopefully the situation will get resolved.

“We do feel for them,” Molly Bell said. “We know how hard farming is.”