(13 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cherryfield, Maine – 11 February 2025
1. Various of solar panels on roof at Intervale Farm, an organic wild blueberries farm
2. Various of Hugh and Jenny Lassen preparing blueberry jam
3. Close Hugh Lassen holding phone showing how much power the solar panels are generating
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Hugh Lassen, blueberry farmer at Intervale Farm: ++PARTIALLY COVERED++
"So we applied for a Rural Energy for America program grant to help us basically find more resilience in our farm and have a solar array. I think we got about a 30% of the cost will be covered of that. And we’ve done a lot of paperwork and jumped through a lot of hoops and we’re in the final… but the panels are on the roof and they’re generating electricity and now we’re in the process of trying to get the reimbursement. And so we’ve had a couple of… I don’t say sleepless nights but uncomfortable nights wondering if it’s actually gonna come through or not."
5. Various of Intervale Farm sign
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Hugh Lassen, blueberry farmer at Intervale Farm: ++PARTIALLY COVERED++
"I’m just hearing about the wrecking, the havoc that’s happening in federal agencies. Because it’s a federal, it’s a USDA grant to the tune of $8,000 which is not small potatoes for us, or you know small blueberries I guess you’d say, but that’s a certain amount of money and we have done a lot to get it. So to not get it would be tough."
7. Various of Jenny Lassen preparing jam
8. Close Hugh Lassen putting stickers on jam jars
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Hugh Lassen, blueberry farmer at Intervale Farm: ++COVERED++
"You know we’re an organic farm so we’re interested in the whole ecosystem, so on board with trying to support clean energy and reduce our footprint but really it’s a resiliency thing. If we’re not having to get to pay more and more for electricity we’re not as much in a rush to pass that cost on to our consumers."
10. Bird on birdfeeder at Intervale Farm
11. Blueberry farm covered in snow
12. Various of Jenny Lassen preparing blueberry jam
13. Various of Tesla converter
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Hugh Lassen, blueberry farmer at Intervale Farm:
"We have an inverter, that’s a Tesla inverter in fact and it’s terrific. Everything’s working really well. Elon Musk and his company is absolutely wonderful at this renewable energy. And so we’re really benefiting from his technology, but on a macro level, and this goes back to our grant that we’re hoping to get, I feel like we’re not benefiting from this slash and burn cost-cutting."
15. Solar panels on roof at Intervale Farm
STORYLINE:
A freeze on federal loans and grants — even though it’s blocked — is creating turmoil for some farmers and rural U.S. business owners who fear they won’t get reimbursed for new, cleaner irrigation equipment or solar panels they purchased with the promise of a rebate.
In Cherryville, Maine, Hugh Lassen and his wife and two teenage kids grow organic, wild blueberries on their Intervale Farm. Last year they purchased solar panels to run their home, a blueberry sorter and fourteen freezers. They did it thinking they’d get an $8,000 grant through the Rural Energy for America Program.
President Donald Trump ordered a freeze on giving out these funds but federal judges have said departments can disburse them. Yet many departments have not resumed writing checks, so questions remain for some business owners who spent years making plans for improvements they could afford only with grants.
Some people have spent months on their applications.
AP Video by Robert Bukaty
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