Ag Policy Blog

WASHINGTON (DTN) -- Environmental organizations and an organic farm group in New York on Monday sued USDA for removing research and landing pages focused on "climate change" from its website.

USDA began removing websites on Jan. 30 without any public notice or explanation, the lawsuit stated. "USDA purged its websites of vital resources about climate-smart agriculture, forest conservation, climate change adaptation, and investments in clean energy projects in rural America, among many other subjects. In doing so, it disables access to numerous datasets, interactive tools, and essential information about USDA programs and policies."

The lawsuit complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for Southern New York. The complaint stated, "By removing these websites or rendering them inaccessible, USDA has hurt farmers and farm advisors who depend on the department's digital resources to access financial and technical support for conservation practices and other agricultural decisions, researchers who depend on USDA datasets and interactive tools to study climate change and its related risks, and advocates whose mission is to educate farmers and the public about USDA programs and policies."

The lawsuit added that the public has been deprived of the information at the same time USDA has frozen funds to farmers, non-profit groups and businesses they were promised under USDA conservation and climate-smart agriculture programs.

The lawsuit was brought by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Environmental Working Group.

The lawsuit alleged USDA violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the Freedom of Information Act.

USDA's press office referred questions about the lawsuit to the Department of Justice, stating the USDA Office of General Counsel will coordinate with the Department of Justice on court filings.

The lawsuit stated USDA's director of digital communications ordered staff on Jan. 30 to "identify and archive or unpublish any landing pages focused on climate change" by the end of Jan. 31.

The USDA Office of Communications was then expected to review the website information and make a determination on the next steps.

The lawsuit highlights various websites and datasets across USDA that were removed, including pages on funding for programs from the Inflation Reduction Act. Other pages rendered inaccessible were linked to the Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities.

Groups in the lawsuit stated they had sent a letter to USDA about the websites on Feb. 12, but did not receive a response.

In a news release last week related to the release of $20 million in grant funding, USDA stated the department was examining funding "to ensure that programs are focused on supporting farmers and ranchers, not DEIA programs or far-left climate programs."

In an unrelated publication, the American Farm Bureau Federation's Market Intel report last week highlighted farmers lost an estimated $20.3 billion tied to natural disasters in 2024. There were 27 weather disasters in 2024, each with damages exceeding $1 billion. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that 2024 ranked fourth in terms of the total inflation-adjusted economic impact of these events. Across all industries, the economy experienced an estimated $182.7 billion hit last year compared to $92.9 billion in 2023.

Also see Ag Weather Forum blog by DTN Ag Meteorologist Emeritus Bryce Anderson, "Extreme Weather Events Post Big Damage Cost Numbers Already in 2024," at https://www.dtnpf.com/….

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Editor's note: DTN is part of a Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities grant recipient for Farmers for Soil Health. The project is led by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation but also includes the National Corn Growers Association, United Soybean Board, National Pork Board, National Center for Appropriate Technology, National Association of Conservation Districts, Soil Health Institute, University of Missouri, Sustainability Consortium and The Walton Family Foundation.

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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