Tens of thousands of dollars of US taxpayer money have been paid out by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for research on LGBTQ issues under the Biden administration. One study, for example, looked at the quality of life of LGBTQ farmers in Pennsylvania.

The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Projects – a federally funded research arm of the US Department of Agriculture – paid 14,997 dollars for a 2018 project that studied queer farmers’ quality of life. The grant went to Pennsylvania State University for a project titled: “Sexuality and Sustainable Agriculture: Examining Queer Farmers’ Quality of Life in Pennsylvania,” the US news portal Just the News pointed out. The grant proposal proposal says the topic is „woefully understudied”.

„The deeply entrenched assumption of heteronormativity in farming has excluded queer farmers from full inclusion and benefits from agriculture, even within sustainable agriculture,”

says the abstract of the proposal.

Michaela Hoffelmeyer, a graduate student who assisted with the project, presented the findings to the Rural Sociological Society Annual Meeting in Richmond, Virginia. Her research highlighted some of the challenges faced by queer farmers, reporting that „findings suggest that transgender, non-binary, and women farmers faced additional hurdles” but create support networks to overcome those challenges. Hoffelmeyer has since gone on to join the faculty at the University of Wisconsin, where she has become a voice in the media and public policy on LGBT issues. Hoffelmeyer says on the university website that she applies „feminist, queer, and labor theories” in her research to „inform agricultural programming and policy on how to make shifts to support viability, well-being, and sustainability.”

The faculty advisor for Hoffelmeyer’s project, Penn State University assistant professor Kathleen Sexsmith, oversaw another taxpayer-funded project along the same lines. Sexsmith’s 2021-2024 project was awarded 14,923 dollars during the Biden administration and was titled: “Farming as a Latinx: Analyzing how ethnic and gender identities shape Latino/a participation in sustainable agriculture in Pennsylvania.” The grant proposal points to the shift from white farmer in the US to Hispanic farmers because of immigration. Taking this into account, the research asked the question:

„How do rural Latin American masculinities become reproduced or reshaped in the US as they establish themselves as sustainable farmers, and how does is it impact the ability of women and men to meet sustainable agriculture goals?”

The researcher conducted 40 interviews over Zoom, averaging about 45 minutes, putting the taxpayer cost at about 373 dollars per Zoom call. „Initially, the project aimed to interview farmers directly, but due to the difficulties in accessing this hard-to-reach population, the focus shifted to institutional perspectives,” the report said. In the final report, the researcher said that Hispanic farmers suffer from systemic discrimination.

Another 15,000-dollar grant in the federal database is titled: „Gender, Sexuality, and Social Sustainability: Exploring Queer Farmers’ Relationships, Ethics, and Practices in the Midwest.” That 2022 grant went to the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, in response to a project proposal promising to develop „a more comprehensive understanding of queer farmers’ experiences”.

The proposal says that „we still have much to learn about the specific ways that narratives which posit heterosexuality and cisgender identities as ‘normal’ continue to uphold hegemonic power dynamics within alternative agriculture”.

The research’s final report said „findings show that queer farmers often struggle to find safe, supportive work or learning opportunities as a result of how other farmers, customers, and community members perceive their gender or sexuality”.

As is known, when President Donald Trump took office, he signed an executive order banning federal funding for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) projects, and the Department of Government Efficiency under Elon Musk has scoured federal spending records and terminated funding for many unnecessary and controversial projects.