(13 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cherryfield, Maine – 11 February 2025
1. Welcome sign to Cherryfield reading "Blueberry Capitol of the World"
2. Various of solar panels on roof at Intervale Farm, an organic wild blueberries farm
3. Various of Hugh and Jenny Lassen preparing blueberry jam
4. Close Hugh Lassen holding phone showing how much power the solar panels are generating. UPSOUND (English) That’s showing you that we’re generating 0.5 kilowatt hours right now and we’ve made 23.7 today.
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Hugh Lassen, blueberry farmer at Intervale Farm:
"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."
6. Various of solar panels on roof at Intervale Farm
7. Various of Tesla converter
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Hugh Lassen, blueberry farmer at Intervale Farm:
"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, honestly , I have submitted a lot of paperwork and I feel like that’s some of the harder money I’ve earned this year. So to not get it would be tough."
9. Wide of Intervale Farm
10. Various of blueberry farm covered in snow
11. Bird on birdfeeder at Intervale Farm
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Hugh Lassen, blueberry farmer at Intervale Farm:
"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."
13. Tilt up from dog to Hugh and Jenny Lassen preparing blueberry jam
14. Mid of Hugh Lassen emptying bag with blueberries on a pot
15. Various of Jenny Lassen preparing jam
16. Close Hugh Lassen putting stickers on jam jars
17. 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. And in reading the news it does occur to me that Elon Musk and his company is absolutely wonderful at this renewable energy. I do feel like he’s looking at people a little bit as electrons. And in his role trying to move into politics it almost feels like he’s looking at that we’ll push them (people) over here, we’ll push them back there… 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."
18. Various of 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.
Some people have spent months on their applications.
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