Funding Freeze Hobbles Farm Conservation

Feb 24, 2025

By Marc Heller

The Trump administration’s freeze on grants and contracts is hitting rural Iowa especially hard, and a farm conservation group laid off nearly all of its staff last week after the flow of money from the Department of Agriculture stopped.

“I’m a one-man show right now,” said Dien Judge, executive director of the Conservation Districts of Iowa, after he was forced to lay off all but one — himself — of a staff of 39.

The association, a nonprofit organization that works with conservation districts throughout the state, has three major grants through the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service totaling slightly more than $12 million, Judge said.

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Video: Finding a Balance of Innovation and Regulation - Dr. Peter Facchini

Regulations help markets and industry exist on level playing fields, keeping consumers safe and innovation from going too far. However, incredibly strict regulations can stunt innovation and cause entire industries to wither away. Dr. Peter James Facchini brings his perspective on how existing regulations have slowed the advancement of medical developments within Canada. Given the international concern of opium poppy’s illicit potential, Health Canada must abide by this global policy. But with modern technology pushing the development of many pharmaceuticals to being grown via fermentation, is it time to reconsider the rules?

Dr. Peter James Facchini leads research into the metabolic biochemistry in opium poppy at the University of Calgary. For more than 30 years, his work has contributed to the increased availability of benzylisoquinoline alkaloid biosynthetic genes to assist in the creation of morphine for pharmaceutical use. Dr. Facchini completed his B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at the University of Toronto before completing Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biochemistry at the University of Kentucky in 1992 & Université de Montréal in 1995.