Agriculture

Washington Farmland Trust joins lawsuit against USDA

Washington Farmland Trust officials are raising money to offset loss of $676,000 in USDA grant funding.

Washington Farmland Trust joined four other organizations in a lawsuit against the United States Department of Agriculture to challenge new terms and conditions being attached to grants.

The lawsuit alleges the USDA’s terms and conditions restricts grantees’ speech and programming in support of diversity and equity, bars using grant dollars on whatever the administration says is “promoting gender ideology” and limits work in support of immigrants, according to a press release from FarmSTAND.

“The pathway to compliance is very unclear and contrary to our values,” Melissa Campbell, executive director of the Washington Farmland Trust, said in an interview.

The Washington Farmland Trust was awarded a three-year, $676,000 grant in September 2025 through the USDA’s Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers (2501) program. They applied for the grant in 2024. When Washington Farmland Trust officials learned of the new grant terms in March 2026, they announced that the organization turned down the funding.

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