Colo. Sen. Pelton Urges Hickenlooper to Vote to Open Government for Farmers

October 30, 2025

DENVER, CO. – As the piles grow at the sugar beet processing plants around the region, growers are facing looming deadlines complicated by federal shutdowns.

Colorado Sen. Byron Pelton said a number of growers – as well as other commodity producers who face the same issues – have reached out unable to meet their loan deadlines due to the closures of federal offices that is preventing them from paying their loans and receiving payment for the year’s crop.

“They’re concerned they’re not going to get paid from the CCC, which in turn pays the FSA office, which in turn pays the sugar beet growers. I talked to Jerry Sonnenberg and he said the offices are ready to pay, but there’s no money allocated from the CCC and that’s not going to happen until the shutdown is over.”

Sonnenberg is the state executive director of the Farm Service Agency. This not only affects this year’s crop, but next year’s as well, with loans for next crop’s seed also hanging in limbo. Pelton said he reached out to U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, asking him to vote to open the government.

“I asked him to do that, and told him we can have the conversation about illegal immigrants receiving federally funded healthcare later,” he said. “We can get this all fixed later if that’s what they need, but right now we need this damn thing to be open.”

Hickenlooper’s staff said they received confirmation that Secretary Rollins and the administration are reopening county offices with limited staff trying to get disaster funding as well as other program funding authorized to producers. However, he was unwilling to vote to open the government.

Source: Rachel Gabel, Western Ag Network, The Fence Post Magazine