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. 

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 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 plaintiff group’s grants to support a habitable climate, fair food system, and healthy nation for all.

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 – still to be produced by the USDA – could support such a finding. And while the relief granted is limited to the plaintiffs in the case, the ruling sets a strong precedent that could allow hundreds of other grants to be challenged and reinstated.

The plaintiff groups are represented by FarmSTAND, Earthjustice, and Farmers Justice Center in this action.