Court Restores $127M in Illegally Canceled Grants from USDA’s Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program

Washington, D.C. —

A federal district court has issued an order restoring the grants of 24 organizations and local governments who had grant agreements under the USDA’s Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access (LCM) Program. In an opinion granting the groups’ motion for a preliminary injunction in the USDN v. USDA case, Judge Beryl Howell wrote that the plaintiffs “have demonstrated that the terminations of their individual grants were likely contrary to statute, that they will suffer irreparable harm in the absence of relief, and that the balance of equities and public interest favor preliminary injunctive relief.” Judge Howell ordered the defendants in the suit to update the court on efforts to reinstate the terminated grant awards totaling $127 million by 5PM ET on Friday, July 3. 

USDN v. USDA was originally filed in June 2025. It alleges that following several 2025 Trump executive orders targeting climate action and efforts to support diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, USDA and DOGE “began engaging in a policy, pattern, and practice of unlawfully terminating federal grant awards.”

The plaintiff groups who had their grants restored late Tuesday are 2020 Farmers Cooperative, African Alliance of Rhode Island, Agraria Center for Regenerative Practice, Agrarian Trust, Black Oregon Land Trust, Center for Heirs’ Property, Cultivate Kansas City, Four Bands Community Fund, Heru Urban Farming, H.O.P.E For Small Farm Sustainability, Iowa Valley RC&D, Kansas Black Farmers Association, King County, WA, NDN Collective, NOFA-NJ, Ourspace World, RAFI, San Diego Food System Alliance, Sustainable Iowa Land Trust, THRIVE Santa Ana, Urban Oasis Project, Viva Farms, Workin Rootz, and World Farmers. 

They are all represented by Earthjustice, Farmers Justice Center, and FarmSTAND. RAFI and Agrarian Trust are also represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center. 

The USDA’s LCM Program was created to help the next generation of farmers do what has become nearly impossible: secure affordable farmland, capital, and markets. It was designed to invest in community-based, locally-led projects that provided down payment assistance, low-interest loans, technical guidance, beginning farmer training, equipment, infrastructure, cover crop seeds, procurement agreements, succession planning support, and more.

King County, Washington’s now-terminated LCM grant, for example, had helped about 120 new and beginning farmers to establish or expand businesses on County-owned farmland. NOFA-NJ’s grant went towards helping more people in New Jersey become organic grain farmers.

But for over a year, the Trump Administration systematically undermined the program. The USDA froze funding for months, withheld required approvals for core project activities for over a year, and failed to provide basic grant management communication for a majority of 2025. 

After over a year of obstruction, the USDA terminated 49 of 50 projects – essentially killing the federal program with the greatest potential to dismantle the steep barriers that young, beginning, and underserved producers are struggling to survive. 

Termination letters to LCM grantees make vague references to “DEI preferences,” and include incorrect claims that the programs don’t align with congressional intent or that the grants represent “waste, fraud, and abuse.” Over the course of this litigation, the government has repeatedly failed to substantiate “waste, fraud and abuse” in terminated grants.  

In August 2025, Judge Howell granted a preliminary injunction restoring six grants held by the plaintiffs at the time, and suggested that many more grants canceled in the same manner could be eligible for the same relief. It ordered DOGE and USDA to produce the administrative record of the termination process to help it determine whether relief for more USDA grantees was warranted. 

The documents the defendants have produced show that the “process” for finding grants the administration deemed worthy of termination was essentially a simple search through grant documents for words it associated with diversity, equity, inclusion, or climate change, as detailed in FarmSTAND’s Deep Dive resource on revelations from the record. The USDN plaintiffs have moved the court to order the defendants to complete the administrative record or to issue sanctions for failure to comply with their legal obligations.

“The court’s order reinstating $127 million in Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access grants is a massive victory for the people across the U.S. who are building a fairer and more sustainable food system in their communities,” said Hannah Wolf, FarmSTAND Staff Attorney and counsel for the plaintiff groups in USDN. “Through this order, and in previously enjoining other grants terminated by USDA and DOGE, the court has consistently recognized that USDA has an obligation to assist all farmers and ranchers. It cannot diminish services to certain farmers by invoking phrases like ‘illegal DEI.’”

“The LCM program is the largest public investment in land access in our nation’s history, and the only program designed to holistically address the challenges young and underserved producers face,” said Amanda Koehler, young farmer and manager of the Land, Capital, and Market Access Network. “In the face of a land access crisis, aging agricultural community, and fragile farm economy, our government should be fighting for next generation producers, not illegally dismantling the programs they depend on. We’re grateful the court recognized what’s at stake and is ensuring that plaintiffs can continue to tangibly improve land, capital, and market access for young and underserved producers while litigation continues.”

“This ruling shows that, once again, USDA and this Administration are not above the law. By ordering the restoration of these critical grants, the court has reinforced the principle that USDA cannot use its anti-DEI policies to terminate congressionally authorized investments that provide equitable access to land, capital, and markets, said Carrie Apfel, Deputy Managing Attorney, Sustainable Food and Farming program at Earthjustice. “Today’s decision not only safeguards $127 million in grants for these organizations, but it also restores much needed resources for the communities and organizations working to expand opportunity and strengthen our agricultural economy.”

 “We are grateful for this ruling. The court has again protected farmers, rural America, and farm organizations from the harm this Administration is trying to cause them,” said Scott Carlson, Executive Director of Farmers Justice Center. “The LCM program provides access to land, capital, and markets to all farmers, including those who historically have been underserved by USDA programs. With today’s poor farm economy, this program is essential to providing access to critical resources to help farmers stay on the land. We applaud the court’s decision.”

“This ruling affirms that the USDA broke the law when they interfered with this grant program for political reasons. The Trump administration has engaged in a pattern of unlawful attacks on climate grant programs and we’re glad to see the court recognize the harm the administration caused,” said Kym Meyer, litigation director at the Southern Environmental Law Center. “We hope these organizations will soon be able to resume their important work.”