President Donald Trump has dealt blow after blow to the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), which has helped farmers save on their energy bills by going solar for nearly two decades. Now, REAP's proponents see a chance to undo some of the damage. Last year, within a matter of months, the Trump administration froze almost a billion dollars' worth of promised REAP funds, and then unfroze them; never opened an expected application period for more funding; and announced strict limits on funding solar on farmland. Then, on March 31 of this year, it halted REAP entirely. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs the program, said REAP won't be revived until regulations are in place reflecting Trump's July 7 executive order targeting subsidies for "unreliable, foreign-controlled energy sources." The moves have been painful for farmers, especially as energy prices continue to soar nationwide. But farmers and clean energy advocates see a pathway to restore and protect the popular, bipartisan initiative going forward: the latest Farm Bill. REAP was created by the 2008 Farm Bill, and since then the program has helped tens of thousands of farmers and rural business owners install solar panels, biodigesters, and wind turbines, and make other energy-efficiency upgrades, through grants and loan guarantees. More than three-quarters of REAP grants have gone to congressional districts represented by Republicans, an analysis by Canary Media found. Yearslong negotiations around a new iteration of the massive Farm Bill appear to be gaining steam, with the House of Representatives scheduled to hold a hearing on the Farm Bill on Monday and expected to potentially vote on its version this week. The Senate still also needs to pass the bill. The last Farm Bill expired in 2023, but provisions have been extended as talks have dragged on. As written, the House's proposed bill would damage REAP further by enshrining Trump-administration restrictions in law. It currently includes provisions blocking USDA funds for ground-mounted solar covering 50 acres or more of farmland and for any projects that use solar equipment made by a "foreign entity of concern," which would apply to most solar panels. By undermining REAP, the administration is "hindering energy dominance and causing farmers and small-business owners to pay more," said Lloyd Ritter, founder of the clean-energy policy consultancy Green Capitol, who helped launch REAP as a senior counsel for former Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). Instead, "the Farm Bill could make improvements to REAP by statute in order to correct misguided decisions by the department," he said. "Democrats and Republicans could work together on a bipartisan basis to protect a hyper-nonpartisan and wildly successful program." Leaders of the American Farmland Trust, a nonprofit that advocates for conserving farmland and developing "smart solar," have talked to lawmakers and administration officials about pushing for changes to the House Farm Bill that would ensure REAP and other USDA grant programs can still help farmers install solar. In a recent memo, the organization asked lawmakers to remove the restrictions on ground-mounted solar and on funding for panels with components from foreign entities of concern. House Democrats have indeed filed an amendment that would strike the limits on funding for ground-mounted solar and foreign supply chains. "This is one of the few sources of support for rural communities, electric co-ops, and farms and ranches to seek if they're interested in generating an alternate type of energy," said Samantha Levy, American Farmland Trust's senior policy manager for conservation and energy. "We know the farm economy is in a really terrible position right now with input prices going up and commodity prices depressed. This is an important time to be finding all the different ways we can to support farmers and ranchers." A rough year The 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills mandated that REAP allocate a total of $50 million each year, with the chance for more discretionary funding, and offer grants reimbursing up to 25% of a project's cost. The Inflation Reduction Act, signed by President Joe Biden in 2022, boosted the program further: It promised over $2 billion to REAP through fiscal year 2027, and increased grants to cover up to 50% of costs for certain types of projects. On Day 1 of his second term, Trump issued an executive order that halted payments under the IRA. Funding for REAP was caught up in that; financing promised to farmers was frozen, to the alarm of those who had already spent money on projects expecting to be reimbursed. The freeze was lifted last March, but with a confusing message inviting recipients to voluntarily change their projects to align with administration goals. In July, a scheduled window to apply for new funding was canceled. Then in August, the USDA announced it would "no longer fund taxpayer dollars for solar panels on productive farmland or allow solar panels manuf