Federal Pause Of Renewable Energy Grants Could 'Financially Ruin' MI Farmers

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 06/04/2026) The federal government closing a grant program that encouraged farmers to install renewable energy systems could "financially ruin" those who started spending money on projects and will no longer be reimbursed, a Senate committee heard Thursday.

Among those speaking to Michigan's Senate Energy and Environment Committee about the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) announcement to pause the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) was Allen Bonthuis, the vice president of sales and marketing for Harvest Solar in Jackson, working with agriculture businesses to install solar power systems. Before entering the solar power industry, Bonthuis was raised on a dairy farm.

He explained that 18 Michigan businesses, mostly farmers, that he represented each signed a stack of documents at the USDA's direction for projects currently being affected by the REAP pause. A transcript of the committee hearing can be found here.

“These are Michigan farms, manufacturers and rural businesses. They followed every federal requirement on the government's own timeline and invested their own money, relying on a reimbursement they were promised,” he said. “To now tell them the government won't honor that, (it) could financially ruin them.”

Farmers had already started spending their own capital and taking on debt "in many cases" to begin building projects that met the REAP instructions. Among the government documents they signed, Bonthuis said there was a request for obligation of funds, where USDA "obligated the money. The funds were legally committed."

"There is one document USDA's own process saves for the very end, the 'Financial Assistance Agreement' form," Bonthuis said. "It is not executed until the project is finished. In its formal notice to the Federal Register on April 15, 2026, USDA stated that the halt applies to any project that does not have, in its words, a fully executed financial assistance agreement."

He said the USDA placed the financial assistance agreement at the finish line, and is now using the absence of its signature on it to deny reimbursements.

According to Bonthuis, Harvest Solar was overseeing 24 projects across the 18 businesses now affected, representing about $18 million in solar project investment. He said that REAP often covered up to 50% of a project's cost.

"Of that, $7.7 million in projects are already complete, built, energized and paid for in full by our customers who are now waiting for a reimbursement that may never come," he said. "And every one of these projects has real money already committed in custom equipment ordered specifically for these installations that cannot simply be returned."

Kyle De Beausset, the owner of the current 24-acre Westcroft Gardens farm in Grosse Ile Township, also testified.

Its history goes back to 1776, when the farm produced hay until the rise of automobiles. After returning from World War I after being hit with toxic "mustard gas," Beausset's great-grandfather turned the property into a flower farm, cultivating rhododendrons and azaleas.

More recently, the farm has become home to a cherry orchard and lavender fields.

In September 2024, Beausset said he was awarded a REAP grant from what he understood it to be. It was for $120,000 for solar panels on a barn roof, with the expectation that the federal government would reimburse $60,000 of it, which he said was more than the revenue the farm makes.

"We budgeted around it. I'm not as bad off as some of the other farmers that have already built and aren't going to get reimbursed, but…I spent thousands of dollars on it, directly attributed to the project," Beausset said. "I've also asked local contractors to give me (basically) their free time with the expectation that they would complete this project (and) project management this."

Bonthuis wants legislators to send a formal resolution asking USDA to honor its obligations to Michigan participants and to distribute reimbursements.

He also wanted the governor, attorney general and the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) to "explore every available avenue to protect Michigan businesses." Additionally, he asked the Senate panel to document the harm of the program's closure by convening affected business owners in the USDA state office.

REAP grants under a different name became part of the federal government's "Farm Bill" in 2002, and were also awarded during President Donald Trump's first administration. The USDA is rewriting the REAP rules to comply with Trump's executive orders to undo former President Joe Biden's push for wind and solar energy.