Lawsuit accuses USDA of illegally deleting climate data, withholding funds for farmers
A coalition of environmental and agricultural advocacy groups has sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture, accusing the agency of unlawfully removing climate-related resources from federal websites and withholding grant funds promised to farmers.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, claims the purge of climate-focused web pages violates multiple federal laws and has left farmers without critical tools to prepare for extreme weather.
The lawsuit, brought by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Environmental Working Group, alleges that a Jan. 30 directive from the USDA ordered staff to unpublish or archive online resources related to climate change. According to the complaint, within hours datasets, planning tools, and funding information disappeared—resources that farmers relied on for financial and technical assistance in conservation and climate adaptation programs.
The plaintiffs argue that the USDA did not engage in “reasoned decision-making” before taking down these pages, depriving farmers of essential guidance at a time when climate-related disasters are escalating. Dãnia Davy, founder of Land & Liberation and an advocate for marginalized farmers, said the disappearance of these resources is a major setback for those who depend on government-backed climate tools.
“Farming is extremely high risk. And especially in this current climate change, climate that we’re all seeing the changes, it’s very difficult to continue to stay functional with the storms, the hurricanes, the floods, the fires,” Davy said.
The lawsuit contends that by removing these resources, the USDA is making it harder for farmers to prepare for droughts, floods, and extreme weather events, all of which impact crop yields and farm income.
“It really is kind of a continuation of a long-standing history, but it’s actually an escalation because it is so targeted against the groups that had a long-standing history of not having enough. And so, they’re already at a deficit and they’re being pushed further into crisis at this time,” Davy said.
In addition to the missing climate resources, the lawsuit claims that farmers who had been awarded federal conservation grants have not received the funding they were promised. The plaintiffs argue that the USDA, under the Trump administration, has halted reimbursements for grant recipients who had already invested in conservation and climate resilience projects.
“Those grants that were awarded, the organizations and the farmers have already done the work. So, there are a variety of community-based organizations that have helped farmers get access to market, access to land. They’re farmers that have put infrastructure on their farming operations to be more climate resilient. And the way that the granting is supposed to work is that now they’re supposed to be reimbursed. And so, they’ve already put out the labor and the materials. And now their requests for reimbursement are being denied,” Davy said.
For many small farms, these payment delays could lead to financial collapse.
“They don’t have enough even to last three months of operations. They’ve already put out as much capital as they had access to, and with the government not reimbursing them, we’re seeing lots of layoffs,” she said.
Advocates say the USDA’s actions have broader consequences beyond individual farms. The missing climate data and funding delays could impact entire rural communities that depend on local agriculture for economic stability.
“Farming isn’t just a business enterprise, it’s an identity. There’s folks that are fourth-generation farmers and this is what their legacy has been,” Davy said. “And so, it’s not just about losing a business which is devastating for any family to lose their family business. But for the rural communities, when they lose a farmer, it’s also losing a huge source of community strength and support and resilience.”
Additionally, there are concerns about how the USDA is handling sensitive farm data. Davy noted that in the past, farmers submitted extensive personal and operational information when applying for federal grants. Now, she worries that with fewer safeguards in place, large corporations could exploit this data to push out smaller farmers.
“Farmers are already very private, very wary people. And so getting them to agree to providing so much of their personal data to receive access to these funding opportunities was a huge challenge. So, in addition to them losing faith in the institution, which I do think is part of the goal, they’re also susceptible to whatever corporate interests get access to their personal information and data,” she said.
The plaintiffs are seeking an immediate court order to restore the deleted web pages and prevent the USDA from taking similar actions in the future. The lawsuit also calls for an end to what it describes as the administration’s broader effort to dismantle climate-related programs.