Agricultores y Comunidades Rurales

FarmSTAND envisions a food system that supports the people and communities who contribute to it and are most impacted by it and keeps farming in the hands of the people who feed us.

Consolidated Big Ag uses its power to control markets, pollute family farms, and push local farmers and ranchers out of business, hollowing out rural communities.

Vibrant local food systems can keep prosperity flowing through a community and create a way of life that can be passed on to future generations. But the current corporate-controlled system threatens this way of life. By working alongside organizers and organizations that represent farmers and rural community members, FarmSTAND makes way for diverse local and regional food systems where farmers and rural communities thrive.

Según las cifras

$127m

The amount of federal grant money FarmSTAND and our allies restored to the next generation of farmers after grants were illegally canceled by the Trump administration.

60%

De la industria avícola está controlada por cuatro corporaciones.

18,000

The number of cows in a proposed Minnesota megadairy that FarmSTAND is fighting with local and regional partners.

Rural communities need fair markets to thrive. In fair markets, independent farmers and ranchers are compensated well for their work, and farmers of all backgrounds have what they need to take care of the land, air, and water. But Big Ag, often with government backing, uses its power to put farmers out of business and extract resources from rural communities. FarmSTAND works to disrupt the systems that promote consolidation in the industry and put corporate agriculture over independent farmers.

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.

Factory farms cause direct harm in the communities they’re placed in. When factory farms move into rural communities, neighbors often pay the price in polluted air and water, asthma and other serious health risks, and a dramatically diminished quality of life. The stench from massive amounts of manure can be so overwhelming that people cannot open their windows, sit outside, or fully enjoy their own homes. Agribusinesses target historically disempowered communities where they can place their facilities and expect not to be challenged by nearby residents. FarmSTAND works with these communities to make sure everyone has access to clean air and water, can feel safe in their home, and has a say in what happens in their neighborhoods.

Many communities don’t want the pollution and market-shrinking impacts of factory farms, and push back when industrial ag comes to set up shop. Big Ag relies on political influence, hidden permitting processes, and infrastructure that locks communities into being economically dependent on polluting industries to get around the will of rural people. These tactics essentially weaken democratic processes for Big Ag’s benefit. FarmSTAND works nationwide to help communities assert their legal and constitutional rights to control how food is produced where they live.

Image from behind of a farmer driving a tractor through a field

Soluciones

Colaboramos con agricultores, ganaderos y comunidades rurales para desafiar el poder corporativo detrás de la agricultural animal industrial y mantener la agricultura en manos de las personas, no de las corporaciones.

Impacto

When a megadairy sought to overturn the will of a rural Minnesota community and undermine the authority of local government, FarmSTAND and our allies shut down its massive expansion efforts in court.

Our longstanding efforts to reform the Beef Checkoff program through the courts forced the USDA to take responsibility over state-level checkoff organizations that were spending ranchers’ money on ads that hurt independent ranchers.

Reportaje Especial

Deep Dive: Trump’s Ten Search Terms to Cancel American Farmers

In 2025, USDA abandoned farmers by recklessly terminating millions of dollars in grants, all to fall in line with the Trump administration’s crusade against DEI, environmental justice, and climate action. We suspected that the “process” for finding grants the administration found worthy of termination was hardly more than a simple search through grant documents for words it associated with diversity, equity, inclusion, or climate change. Now we can prove it.

Court Cases: Farmers & Rural Communities

Actualizado el September 21, 2026