Tell The USDA: Honor Your Contracts With Farmers

Farmland costs more than ever. Most of it is owned by people who don't farm it. And the one USDA program designed to help young farmers actually buy land? Just canceled.

The Trump administration terminated 49 of 50 contracts under the Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program (ILCMA) — wiping out nearly $300 million in congressionally authorized funding, overnight, across 40 states and territories.

This is sabotage, not fiscal responsibility. Tell USDA to restore this funding now.

Here's what was just lost:

Tribes, farmer associations, universities, and nonprofits — all working to help young, Black, Indigenous, veteran, and beginning farmers access land — had their contracts terminated effective March 26. Six farmers in Kansas were days away from receiving down payment assistance to buy small farms. That help is now gone. The USDA first froze the program — blocking awardees from doing anything — then canceled the contracts and cited the lack of progress as the reason.

"Secure access to farmland is the single greatest barrier facing new farmers — and the number one reason producers leave agriculture," said the National Young Farmers Coalition. ILCMA was the USDA's only program designed to address this crisis.

Congress authorized this money. Farmers planned around it. Canceling it mid-contract may be illegal — and at least one recipient is already suing to stop it.

The next generation of American farmers is running out of time. Sign now.

In solidarity,

Action Collective