The following is CalCAN’s monthly “Federal Bulletin” to share what we are reading and tracking in terms of the impacts of the Trump administration on agriculture, climate change and social justice, with a focus on California. Your stories can help bring attention to these issues. Please let us know how you or your communities are being affected by emailing info@calclimateag.org).
As of 4/21/25
Interruptions in USDA Programs & Services
Federal Contracts & Grants:
The Trump administration has sown widespread confusion and instability during the past three months by issuing orders to freeze payments on many USDA contracts, grants and loans, including many authorized by Congress. This is undermining the trust that farmers and those who serve them have in USDA. Many farmers who did not receive service or who faced historical discrimination were just beginning to build trust with the agency. This is the currency that drives conservation.
Here is an update on a few of the climate-related interruptions as of this writing:
Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities Program — In 2022, the USDA committed $3 billion in grants to 135 partners across the country to implement conservation practices and expand market opportunities to help meet the increased consumer demand for climate-smart products. In mid-April, USDA announced that they are rebranding the program to remove the focus on climate smart agriculture, will honor outstanding payments due as of April 13, and will resume funding—but only for some. Projects that do not allocate at least 65% of their budget to direct payments to farmers must reapply, though no process or guidelines for doing so are publicly available as of this writing. While this announcement is welcome news for some, others remain in limbo and uncertain about whether or how to proceed. Many of these projects may be forced to reduce or eliminate efforts to provide outreach and technical assistance to farmers and research into methods for measuring the climate benefits of farming practices. We are concerned about USDA’s unprecedented decision to change the rules midway through a program with agreements that have been fully executed and that took many months to negotiate, leaving farmers and the organizations that support them behind.
Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) — USDA suspended at least $500 million in funding for food banks nationwide, stating the program is under review. This comes on the heels of cuts in March to three other food assistance programs that serve the most vulnerable (the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program and the Local Foods for Schools program).
Rural Energy for America (REAP), Empowering Rural America (New ERA) and the Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) programs — After being paused for a couple of months, funds are now moving again (as directed by a recent decision by a federal judge, summarized below), albeit with prescribed program alterations that require applicants to eliminate all consideration of climate change and diversity and equity.
Closures of USDA State Offices and Staff Layoffs:
According to a story in Progressive Farmer, as of mid-April approximately 16,000 USDA employees had accepted a deal that would pay their salary through the end of September if they agreed to resign. In spite of that significant loss of capacity, USDA leadership “has warned its 100,000-plus employees that major staff cuts are coming, offices will be closed, and people will be forced to relocate if they want to keep their jobs.”
Approximately 6,000 USDA probationary employees were fired in February, but then a judge issued a 45-day stay in early March, set to expire on April 18. The workers were to receive administrative pay but were not expected to resume their duties, though it is unclear whether that has happened. As of this writing, their fate is uncertain, and many news articles have reported on the difficult situation they are in waiting to be fired a second time, or perhaps be asked to return to work.
Honor Our Farmers Act
Since January, billions in federal funding for farmers and organizations has been frozen — despite lawfully signed contracts and court orders directing funding to flow. This means farmers with crops in the ground have been left without markets for their crops, education and food access programs for farmers and families have been cancelled, and thousands of workers have been abruptly laid off. The process and approach to freezing funds has been anything but transparent, with farmers and organizations stuck waiting for months, and it is affecting nearly every segment of food and agriculture. This doesn’t have to be happening: Congress has abdicated both its responsibility and power to check the Administration’s overreach and disregard for signed and legally executed contracts. They need to step up and demand that USDA honors its contracts and pays farmers and organizations.
We urge you to contact your members of Congress; Use this form to contact your elected officials urging them to force USDA to honor all signed contracts and release all withheld funds. https://secure.everyaction.com/Sae1dwnpZ0G-OnqYvbTT7g2
Litigation
In a victory for environmental advocates and farmers, in mid-April U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy in Rhode Island “ordered the Agriculture Department and four other agencies to release frozen funding for Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law conservation and energy programs” (as reported in Farm Policy News on April 17). To comply with this ruling, USDA is directed to immediately release all IRA funds earmarked for many programs including:
- Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities Program
- NRCS programs such as EQIP, Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), Regional Conservation Partnership Program
- Urban and Community Forestry Program
- Renewable energy programs (Rural Energy for America (REAP), Empowering Rural America (New ERA) and the Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE))
- Other IRA-funded agreements and contracts
Immigration
The California Department of Justice has updated a fact sheet on the Immigrant Worker Protection Act, answering questions about immigrant rights in the workplace. This is a good resource for employers seeking to understand their rights and responsibilities related to immigration enforcement authorities. Two other good resources for farmworker employers are: (1) This blog from the Farm Bureau’s Farm Employers Labor Service; (2) This webpage by the National Immigration Law Center.
CalMatters published an important piece of investigative journalism regarding a January 7th immigration raid by Border Patrol agents in Kern County that targeted farmworkers and agricultural businesses. The reporters found that 77 of the 78 people targeted had no prior criminal history, contrary to statements made by Border Patrol at the time. This action has legal implications for the approach taken by the Trump administration and is a story worth reading.
Links to Resources & Action Alerts
Impact Map
The Impact Map provides timely data—as it becomes available—on policy, funding, workforce changes and their localized effect. The Map can be filtered by sector, including for food and agriculture.
USDA Appointments
A number of appointments to USDA positions have been made in the past couple of weeks. Those most pertinent to CalCAN’s focus on climate and agriculture are:
- Aubrey Bettencourt, Chief of NRCS — Aubrey hails from California where she served as President and CEO of the Almond Alliance and also the Director of Sustainability at Western United Dairies.
- Jaye Hamby, Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture — Hamby “led and directed proprietary research efforts” before joining USDA, according to a department press release. He has a doctorate in agricultural education with a specialization in ag economics from Oklahoma State University. NIFA provides research grants to colleges and universities.
- Tucker Stewart, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations — Stewart has been general counsel and a senior ag adviser to Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan.
As of 3/21/25
Interruptions in USDA Programs & Services
Failure to Honor Contracts & Grants:
The Trump administration has sown widespread confusion and instability during the past two months by issuing orders to freeze payments on many USDA contracts, grants and loans, including many authorized by Congress. This is undermining the trust that farmers and those who serve them have in USDA. Here is an update on a few of the climate-related interruptions as of this writing:
Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities Program — In 2022, the USDA committed $3 billion in grants to 135 partners across the country to implement conservation practices and expand market opportunities to help meet the increased consumer demand for climate-smart products. They have informed the grant recipients that their agreements are under review, with no indication of when they may be reimbursed for expenses already incurred or for future work. See this comprehensive blog by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition for details.
EQIP and CSP — In February, we started hearing reports from farmers that they were not receiving reimbursements for conservation practices the USDA had already committed (see our blog here). The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) both cover numerous climate smart practices that are in high demand by farmers. Following a court order, on Feb. 20 the USDA announced it had released $20 million of the EQIP and CSP grants owed to farmers but is still reviewing many of their other climate and equity-related commitments funded through the Inflation Reduction Act.
Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (LFPA) — The purpose of LFPA is to maintain and improve food and agricultural supply chain resiliency. The cooperative agreements allow the states, tribes and territories to procure and distribute local and regional foods and beverages that are healthy, nutritious, unique to their geographic areas and that meet the needs of the population. As reported by Politico, USDA Secretary Rollins has stated that she considers these programs “non-essential” and its future is uncertain. Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) has a helpful explainer about what this interruption and uncertainty means on the ground for one of their powerful programs.
Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI) — RFSI builds resilience in the food supply chain to provide more and better markets to small farms and food businesses, to support the development of value-added products for consumers, fair prices, fair wages, and new and safe job opportunities. CDFA administers the program and recently told grant recipients that they received notice from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service that payments for RFSI have been paused for all work conducted and invoiced after January 19, 2025. They have no federal guidance on the details of the review, its timeline, or program continuation.
Please contact your members of Congress and tell them to act now to address these interruptions in funding. Here is an action alert from CalCAN with more information.
Closures of USDA State Offices:
On March 14, Progressive Farmer reported that the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has terminated the leases for 111 USDA offices around the country. California is hit the hardest with nine offices getting shuttered, including five NRCS offices, two FSA offices, a Forest Service office and an Agricultural Marketing Service office closure. Many of the services NRCS offers to farmers for loans and conservation payments must be conducted in person, making it almost impossible for services in these areas to be provided. To find out if your local office is closed, check here.
Staff Layoffs:
In February, President Trump’s Office of Personnel Management fired thousands of federal employees in several agencies who had been recently hired and were still on probationary status. Subsequent court orders required that they be reinstated, but an Agri-Pulse story on March 19 reported that the USDA “instead have placed them on administrative leave with pay, citing logistical challenges in reinstating” the 5,714 workers.
Litigation
Two lawsuits have been filed to challenge the Trump administration on actions that have taken to slowing progress on climate change in the agriculture sector:
- In late Feb., Earthjustice and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University sued the USDA for removing department webpages focused on climate change. They allege this is in violation of the Freedom of Information Act, the Paperwork Reduction Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act. The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring USDA to restore access to key webpages and preventing USDA from removing additional climate-related information.
- In mid-March, Earthjustice filed a lawsuit challenging the USDA’s withholding of Congressionally appropriated funding through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a bill signed into law in 2022 to invest in projects across the country that both curb climate change and stimulate the economy. The IRA included $20 billion to be distributed by USDA for agriculture conservation practices such as improving soil health, conserving water and reducing methane emissions on livestock operations. The California NRCS website has more information about how California farmers have benefitted from these investments. The Earthjustice lawsuit was filed on behalf of farmers and nonprofit organizations who were awarded USDA grants through the IRA.
On March 21, Bloomberg Law reported that a federal judge “preliminarily halted the Trump administration from enforcing portions of the president’s sweeping executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that it considers illegal and discriminatory.” Whether and if the Trump administration will comply with this ruling is unknown at this time.
Immigration
On March 18, Courthouse News reported that California’s Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, in her state of the judiciary address, remarked that while the federal government has the right to enforce immigration law, they cannot require California to do so. California has passed two relevant laws, one that prohibits state and local resources from assisting federal immigration enforcement (Senate Bill 54) and another that restricts civil arrests from occurring in a California courthouse without a warrant (Assembly Bill 668).
