May 14, 2025
Organic farmers join legal challenge against USDA cuts in broad coalition lawsuit
The Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT) and its six sister chapters across the Northeast have joined a sweeping lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to reorganize the federal government without Congressional approval, according to an NOFA-VT press release.
Filed April 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the case alleges that Executive Order 14210, issued in February, unlawfully seeks to restructure federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), through deep staff cuts and program rollbacks.
The Northeast Organic Farming Association Interstate Council (NOFA I.C.), representing over 2,500 farmers in Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island, warns the proposed changes would jeopardize food security, drive up consumer prices and push small, independent farms out of business.
“Farming is a trickle-up system; the more success the small farms have, the more farmland they can manage, the more food they can produce, the more people they can employ, the more people they can feed,” Meadow Squier, a livestock, vegetable and maple farmer in Tinmouth, Vermont, said in the release. “If we want to continue to have small farms and see new ones start up, we need to understand how important these programs are to their existence.”
Government Executive, citing USDA sources and documents obtained from the White House, suggest the USDA may eliminate funding for key programs and reduce staff at local offices, impacting the Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
“Our organic farm relies on NRCS support not just for funding, but for guidance, planning and long-term resilience,” Kristen Tyler, a livestock and vegetable farmer in Westford, Vermont, said in the release. “Our conservation planner was let go this spring. The loss of these dedicated staff members has left us and others without the technical support needed to implement conservation practices critical to soil health and climate adaptation.”
The lawsuit contends the executive order violates the Constitution’s separation of powers, asserting that only Congress can authorize such sweeping changes to federal agencies.
The case, AFGE v. Trump, is supported by a broad coalition, including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), Northeast Organic Farming Association, VoteVets, Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, several major cities and counties, and numerous advocacy groups. The plaintiffs are represented by Democracy Forward, Altshuler Berzon LLP, Protect Democracy, the Public Rights Project and the State Democracy Defenders Fund.
