(DTN file photo by Chris Clayton)

Electricity prices and other energy costs keep rising, but USDA has severely restricted one of the biggest tools farmers and small rural businesses have had to produce solar power on their farms to offset costs, according to a new lawsuit.

Farmers in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, along with solar energy groups, filed a lawsuit Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, suing USDA and department officials over changes to the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) that plaintiffs argue were done to effectively block funding for nearly all on-farm solar projects.

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