Stopping Illegal Grant Terminations (Urban Sustainability Directors Network v. USDA)

When our government agrees to provide grant funding to a farmer or nonprofit group, it should hold up its end of the bargain. But Trump’s USDA and Department of Government Efficiency did the opposite, illegally terminating hundreds of grants to organizations across the country that counted on these funds to advance sustainability and support farmers building a fair food system. We’re suing to restore this funding. 

Initial plaintiff groups Agroecology Commons, Oakville Bluegrass Cooperative, the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and Providence Farm Collective all had their contracts terminated, violating their due process rights and the Administrative Procedures Act, and in the case of the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, violating the separation of powers laid out in the Constitution and recent legislation. These groups were using their grants to support underserved communities and independent producers of food — and then had the rug pulled out from under them by the Trump Administration’s crusade against climate action and any work it perceives as DEIA-related. They bring this lawsuit to restore their grants and send a message: These cancellations are cruel, unjustified, and illegal. 

On June 26, 2025, the initial plaintiff groups filed a motion for preliminary injunction asking for the court to stop the defendants’ behavior from continuing, and for relief for the plaintiff grantees as well as all other grants canceled in this unlawful manner. On August 14, Judge Howell granted the motion for a preliminary injunction in part, restoring the initial plaintiffs’ grants to support a habitable climate, fair food system, and healthy nation for all. While the relief granted is limited to the initial plaintiffs in the case, the ruling establishes that the plaintiffs can continue their challenge to USDA’s broader policy and fight to reinstate hundreds of other grants terminated by the agency under this policy.

While the Court found there was not sufficient evidence in the record before it of a policy of en masse terminations of these grants, it noted that documents in the administrative record could support such a finding. Defendants have produced some of the administrative record, but have refused to produce many key documents. FarmSTAND has moved the court to order defendants to complete the administrative record or to issue sanctions for failure to comply with their legal obligations.

Read more about the documents in the administrative record in our Deep Dive: Trump’s Ten Search Terms to Cancel American Farmers.

On May 26, 2026, 24 organizations and local governments who had grant agreements under the USDA’s Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access (LCM) Program joined this lawsuit, aiming to restore their illegally canceled grants. The new plaintiffs filed a motion for a preliminary injunction that would also reverse their grant terminations and compel the USDA to honor its grant agreements with them. On June 30, 2026, Judge Howell granted the new LCM plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, restoring $127 million in grants.

USDA appealed the order granting the preliminary injunction for the LCM plaintiffs to the D.C. Circuit and asked the appeal court to stay the preliminary injunction—in effect, to lift the injunction and cut off grant funding. On September 29, 2026, a panel of three judges denied that motion, keeping the injunction in place and allowing LCM grantees to continue accessing their funding as the appeal proceeds. 

The LCM plaintiffs 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.

All plaintiffs are represented by FarmSTAND, Earthjustice, and Farmers Justice Center in this action. RAFI and Agrarian Trust are also represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center.