A lawsuit has been filed against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regarding grants through the Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access (LCM) program.

As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the LCM program was funded during Joe Biden’s presidency through the Inflation Reduction Act and the American Rescue Plan Act. Starting in 2023, it has provided nearly $300 million in federal aid to tribes, farmers’ associations, and universities and was created to serve “underserved producers by increasing land, capital, and market access.”

According to a press release shared with AFROTECH™, it funded community-based, locally led projects that provided support such as down payment assistance, low-interest loans, beginning farmer training, cover crop seeds, equipment, technical guidance, infrastructure, procurement agreements, and succession planning support.

Under the Trump administration, many grants through the program were canceled. Farm Service Agency Associate Administrator Steven Peterson stated in the termination letters that he believes the program is “discriminatory” and promotes “wasteful spending that did little to further lawful agricultural land purchases,” per Civil Eats.

Now, 24 organizations and local governments with grant agreements with the LCM program have joined a previous lawsuit that was filed in 2025, according to the press release. Plaintiffs claim the government has not proven that the terminated grants were in line with claims of “waste, fraud, and abuse.”

“The LCM program was the federal government’s most meaningful attempt to address the compounding challenges the next generation of producers like me face,” explained Amanda Koehler, a young farmer and manager of the LCM Network, in the press release. “Awardees were building the financial, social, and physical infrastructure required for young and underserved producers to actually succeed – and the Trump administration unlawfully pulled the rug out from under them. With record farmland costs, a gutted USDA workforce, an aging agricultural population, and an extremely fragile farm economy, it’s imperative that the courts hold them accountable.”

The plaintiffs are seeking the reversal of $127 million in canceled grants, per the release.

Plaintiffs are 2020 Farmers Collaborative; African Alliance of Rhode Island; Agraria Center for Regenerative Practice; Agrarian Trust; Black Oregon Land Trust; Center for Heirs’ Property; Cultivate Kansas City; Four Bands Community Fund; Heru Urban Farming; H.O.P.E. For Small Farm Sustainability; Iowa Valley RC&D; Kansas Black Farmers Association; King County, WA; NDN Collective; NOFA-NJ; Ourspace World; RAFI; San Diego Food System Alliance; Sustainable Iowa Land Trust; THRIVE Santa Ana; Urban Oasis Project; Viva Farms; Workin Rootz; and World Farmers.

The plaintiffs join the USDN v. USDA case (filed in June 2025), with initial plaintiffs being Agroecology Commons, the Institute on Agriculture and Trade Policy, Providence Farm Collective, and Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN), the release noted.

In August 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction reinstating six grants, and plaintiffs believe their grants could receive a similar outcome. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and USDA had also been ordered to share an administrative record of the termination processes to determine the validity of canceled grants. The plaintiffs want the court to require the defendants to complete the administrative record or face sanctions. Per the release, the defendants’ process allegedly involved simple searches for words related to diversity, equity, inclusion, or climate change.

“Farmers served by the LCM program have historically not had access to government support that would help them thrive as farmers and we must protect this program to help all American farmers thrive. These grant termination could hardly get any worse. USDA is shuttering underserved producers’ access to land, capital, and market access during a poor farm economy suffering from uncertain markets. Land access is critical to farming. The courts must again stop this administration from continuing to harm rural America,” Scott Carlson, executive director of Farmers Justice Center, commented in the press release.