Federal Judge Restores $127M in USDA Grants for Underserved Farmers
A federal judge has temporarily restored $127 million in canceled USDA grants for organizations that support beginning, Black, Indigenous, veteran, immigrant, and other underserved farmers.
U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell granted a preliminary injunction in USDN v. USDA, ruling that the Land Access Program plaintiffs had shown enough to block the terminations while the case continues. The order preliminarily vacated the grant cancellations and barred federal officials from enforcing them.
The grants came through USDA’s Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program. The program was designed to help underserved farmers and ranchers gain access to land, financing, training, technical assistance, and markets. Court records say holders of 49 of the 50 grants received termination notices around March 23, 2026.
Subscribe free for daily political analysis they won’t broadcast. Join 110K+ readers →
USDA’s termination letters argued the awards involved DEI based discriminatory preferences, did little to improve land access, and carried waste or fraud risks. Howell’s opinion noted that the government denied the cancellations were made en masse, but said the process appeared suspect given the near simultaneous termination of 49 grants and the lack of substantiated fraud claims against specific organizations in the filings.
The practical stakes are immediate. Declarations cited by the court described canceled land use contracts, lost service agreements, reduced staff hours, damaged trust with farmers, and disrupted training or workforce programs.
The ruling does not decide the final legality of the program or the cancellations. It keeps the grants alive while the litigation proceeds.
Subscribe free for daily political analysis they won’t broadcast. Join 110K+ readers →