Challenging the Trump Administration’s Climate Censorship that Threatens Farmers and Our Food Supply

On behalf of our clients, Earthjustice and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for unlawfully removing department webpages focused on climate change. The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring USDA to restore access to key webpages and preventing USDA from removing additional climate-related information.

All farmers in the U.S. are facing extreme and changing weather patterns. Climate information is critical to help them make the best choices and access resources to mitigate harm to their livelihoods. Many farmers are also moving to climate-smart practices because it’s good for business; studies show that people often prefer and will pay more for climate-smart foods. Denying farmers access to information on developing markets and federal funding hurts their profits.

The website purge, alongside widespread USDA staff layoffs and the freeze of billions in conservation funding, will impair food security, leave farmers and rural economies without critical support, and deprive farmers, researchers, and advocates the information they need to press for the re-instatement of funding and support.

The lawsuit argues that USDA is violating three federal laws:

• the Freedom of Information Act, which mandates public access to key documents;
• the Paperwork Reduction Act, which requires adequate notice before changing information access; and
• the Administrative Procedure Act, which prohibits arbitrary government actions.

Resources removed from USDA websites in the first month of the new Trump administration include information on climate-smart farming, federal loans, conservation, and climate adaptation. The USDA erased entire climate sections from the U.S. Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service sites, including information helping farmers access billions of dollars for critical conservation practices. It also disabled interactive tools, such as the U.S. Forest Service’s “Climate Risk Viewer,” as well as technical guidance on cutting emissions and strengthening resilience to extreme weather.

The outcome of this lawsuit will have implications for the Trump administration across agencies. Since Jan. 20, 2025, the Trump administration took down over 8,000 web pages across more than a dozen agencies from public access, including resources on public health, disaster preparedness, environmental justice, and foreign aid. Many of these pages have either vanished entirely or reappeared with restricted access.