Overview

• The federal funding lapse began Oct. 1 after Congress failed to pass a stopgap bill, triggering USDA contingency plans.
• USDA expects more than 42,000 of roughly 85,000 employees to be furloughed, leaving many county service centers closed or minimally staffed.
• Processing of farm loans, annual commodity and conservation payments, and new disaster aid applications is suspended, and advances on already approved loans are on hold.
• Mission‑critical operations continue, including SNAP and child nutrition through October, food safety inspections, wildfire response, user fee‑funded commodity grading, and emergency APHIS disease programs, while broader disease surveying stops.
• Some final payments were issued Tuesday night, but producers describe mounting strain during harvest, and political leaders are trading blame as Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says disaster aid is being blocked.