A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Agriculture Department to continue funding five grant awards that had been terminated by the Trump administration, including one that was part of the Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities initiative.
Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia enjoined the USDA from continuing the terminations of awards to five nonprofits after finding the agency’s decision was likely arbitrary and capricious, as well as potentially contrary to statute when it comes to two of the plaintiffs’ awards.
Her order directed the agency to restore a $4.9 million award for the Oakville Bluegrass Cooperative under the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program, a $28 million award to the Urban Sustainability Directors Network through the Urban and Community Forestry Assistance Program, a nearly $400,000 award for Agroecology Commons through the Community Food Competitive Grant Program, a $750,000 award to Providence Farm Collective Corp through the Beginner Farmer Program, and a $111,694 award to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy through the Local Agriculture Market Program.
The decision also covers a sixth grant — also awarded to the Agroecology Commons — that was not officially terminated, but has been frozen since February. That was a $2.5 million award through the Farm Service Agency’s Land Access Program.
Howell noted that Oakville Bluegrass Cooperative, the PCSC awardee, “will no longer be able to function as an organization” if relief was not provided. The California-based Oakville bluegrass distributor has laid off staff, given up equipment, and fallen behind on payments to other organizations, she said.
The other organizations also have cut back on staff and programming as a result of the terminations, she added.
“The complete termination of the organizations’ programming, impairing their central missions and damaging their reputations and relationships, and the existential threat to the ongoing operation of the organizations constitute irreparable harms justifying preliminary injunctive relief,” Howell wrote in her ruling.
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