FarmStand

Trump's USDA recently canceled millions of dollars of grants from the Land, Capital, and Market Access program, which funded projects to help farmers historically shut out of the system succeed. We're fighting back against Trump's racist, pro-Big Ag, anti-farmer agenda by representing 2020 Farmers Cooperative and 23 other groups in court.

The Land, Capital, and Market (LCM) Access grants were designed to help the next generation of farmers get the resources they need to build local food systems that benefit their communities. The Trump administration's decision to cancel those grants as part of its anti-DEI agenda just creates more barriers for young, underserved producers.

We're proud to be representing 24 organizations joining our suit against the USDA over its illegal grant terminations in our ongoing fight to help build a food system that works for all of us. Read about the USDA's legacy of racist and discriminatory policies on the FarmSTAND blog.

The USDA just delayed a rule that would make poultry farming more fair for contract growers. Thousands of comments were in favor of the rule and just a dozen from industry leaders were against it.

This is unfortunately typical of Trump's USDA. It has put the profits of the wealthy over the needs of the people time and time again, and small farmers are always left paying the price.

USDA Delays Rule to Protect Poultry Farmers from Unfair Payment Practices The administration made the industry-supported decision despite thousands of public comments in opposition.

Should big institutions like state and local governments source food from independent producers that are building a better food system for all of us, or default to factory farms?

So much is at stake in this fight. Update from advocates in New York State below.

Wild Fork is a retailer that claims to provide sustainable, responsible meat for conscious consumers. Actually, the chain is owned by JBS, the largest meatpacker in the world, whose scandals include worker abuse, environmental destruction, price fixing, and more.

Here's the problem:

1️⃣ The marketing for the Wild Fork brand launders that reputation to consumers by presenting itself as something ethical, small, and local. That undermines actual small producers trying to raise meat in a better way.

2️⃣ It also expands JBS' vertical integration — the company already owned every step of meat processing from the feedlots to the slaughterhouse. Opening up its own stores gets its even more control over our food.

Big Ag knows that people oppose their practices. That's why they have to hide behind marketing schemes like Wild Fork.

When Your “Local” Meat Market is Actually Owned by JBS Wild Fork Foods, owned by the largest meatpacker in the world, is the latest manifestation of industry consolidation.

The Trump administration has made wild claims about waste of public funds to justify canceling USDA grants, but has failed to back them up. Records from our suit have shown that grants were put on the chopping block cut based on a simple search for DEI and climate-related keywords.

We're representing organizations and local governments who had their grants illegally canceled. We'll continue defending the people who are building the food system we need.

The USDA canceled $300M in farm grants, citing fraud. Did it make up the evidence? The agency pointed to gazebos, massages, and a $20,000 budget for pens to justify the cuts. But the groups that lost funding say those claims don't add up.

FarmSTAND Senior Staff Attorney Amal Bouhabib just sat down with the Our Hen House podcast. She discussed Big Ag's abuse of visa policy and explained how animal advocacy intersects with farmworker advocacy in the work to build a fair food system. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts!

Our Hen House

How the J-1 Visa Became a Tool for Exploitation | Animal Law Podcast Three young men from Guatemala were recruited to the United States on J-1 cultural exchange visas — promised a legitimate paid training program at a farm, ho...

The USDA is trying to push through rule changes that would raise the work speed for poultry and swine processing to dangerous levels.

The proposed rule change is based on a misrepresentation of a key study on worker safety. We submitted comments on behalf of the study's authors, who don't want their work used to justify putting workers at risk.

Industrial ag operations frequently overuse or misuse antibiotics, which creates antibiotic resistant bacteria. These antibiotic resistant bacteria pose a serious threat to workers, their families, and their communities.

Thankfully, there are solutions - including data tracking, protective equipment for workers, and more precise use of antibiotics. To get Big Ag to make those changes, we need to force them to prioritize workers and their communities.

USDA and DOGE illegally canceled grants that were helping communities build food systems that make sense for them.

They terminated thousands of existing grants without legal justification, sometimes for as little as the inclusion of words like “equity” in the contract language.

A total of 28 groups are now suing to reverse the damage.