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Federal court says changes in policy priorities don’t justify USDA grant terminations

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition says a recent federal court ruling clarifies that agencies cannot terminate funding because a new administration has different policy priorities.

Deputy Policy Director Sophia Kruszewski tells Brownfield, “The court says in its opinion that authority applies to the priorities as they were at the time the agreement was entered into.”

“It doesn’t create this broad authority for the agency to change its mind and then hold existing agreements to new and changing priorities,” she explains.

Last year, Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins said the agency canceled more than 3,600 grants and contracts worth more than $5.5 billion because they no longer effectuated agency priorities. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia sued.

“It just doesn’t make sense for multi-year, multi-million dollar projects to be able to be canceled on a whim,” Kruszewski says. “It’s zero certainty, zero stability for so many sectors, including farmers and conservation programs, including ag research. It just doesn’t make good business sense.”

The decision does not restore funding for programs like USDA’s Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program or an Equity in Conservation Outreach grant at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that were included in court examples.

Kruszewski says she’s still concerned about an Office of Management and Budget proposed rule that could expand discretionary termination authority and create continued funding issues.