By Leah Douglas
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Agriculture directed its staff to identify grants for possible termination in the early months of the second Trump administration by searching for more than two dozen specific words and phrases related to diversity and climate change, according to documents seen by Reuters.
The effort was undertaken as part of a broad campaign across federal agencies to comply with President Donald Trump’s directives to end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and climate regulation in the federal government. Trump has called DEI “racist” and “illegal” and pressured private entities like universities to also end diversity practices. He has called climate change a “con job.”
The documents, obtained by legal advocacy group FarmSTAND in the course of litigation against the USDA and shared with Reuters, show the breadth of that effort at the farm agency, whose remit includes a wide-ranging portfolio from food stamps to farm subsidies to conservation programs.
The USDA has terminated about 600 grants totaling more than $3 billion, according to information published on the Department of Government Efficiency website.
The approach and terms used by the USDA to identify grants for termination have not been previously reported.
A USDA spokesperson said the agency would not comment on pending litigation.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a pair of publicly available March 13 memos that the review of grants for possible termination helped the agency to “establish a return to American principles and realign the Department’s focus towards its original objectives” of promoting agriculture, ensuring safe food and protecting national forests.
TERMS INCLUDE ‘SOCIALLY VULNERABLE,’ ‘CARBON PRICING’
Agency officials directed budget and finance officers to identify awards that used the terms “diversity,” “equity,” “inclusion,” “DEI,” “DEIA,” “environmental justice,” “underrepresented producers,” “underserved communities,” “socially disadvantaged producers” and “socially vulnerable (and similar phrases),” according to a February 6 memo seen by Reuters.
The memo was sent by USDA’s then-acting general counsel Ralph Linden, now the agency’s deputy general counsel, deputy chief financial officer Lynn Moaney, and budget director John Rapp.
The USDA uses the term “socially disadvantaged” farmers to refer to farmers of color and sometimes women, and until July had for decades prioritized enrollment or set aside funding pools for those farmers.
On February 24, Chelsea Cole, federal financial assistance department policy lead at the agency’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer, instructed the officials to expand their review to include 16 topic areas and search terms related to climate change.
The topics and terms included “climate modeling,” “climate and emission analysis,” “climate smart agriculture and land use that does not directly benefit farmers,” “carbon pricing and market mechanics,” “renewable energy modernization that does not directly benefit farmers,” “climate adaption (sic) and resilience planning” and “biodiversity and ecosystem resilience related to climate change,” the documents show.
It was not clear from the documents whether all the identified grants were terminated, or whether other factors were considered for the roughly 600 canceled grants.
CANCELED GRANTS
Work funded by the canceled grants included technical support for farmers using climate-friendly practices like planting cover crops, local food purchases for schools and improving nutrition for people receiving federal food aid.
“(The termination process) has impacted organizations across the country and their ability to create a fairer food system, one that supports small local farmers, one that gets food to people who need it,” said Holly Bainbridge, a senior attorney with FarmSTAND.
FarmSTAND obtained the USDA documents in the course of litigation against the agency for grant terminations alongside legal groups Earthjustice and Farmers Justice Center.
(Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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