The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the termination of dairy checkoff funding connected to Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) projects. The consent motion was filed by federal attorneys in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
The move follows a federal lawsuit by three Wisconsin dairy farmers against the Secretary of Agriculture and the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board. The farmers, Abby Swan, Adam Faust, and Christopher Baird, claimed they were being forced to subsidize climate change research in private organizations through the Dairy Checkoff program. On behalf of the farmers in June, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) argued the funding was a violation of the First Amendment and exceeds USDA’s statutory authority.
“American dairy producers, cattle ranchers, and farmers pay checkoff assessments so those dollars can build demand for their products - not bankroll radical climate agendas that raise costs and constrain production,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins in a press release. “Today’s action returns the Dairy Checkoff and all research and promotion programs to their core mission: expanding markets and supporting the hardworking men and women who feed this country. We will not allow producer dollars to underwrite mandates that put American agriculture at a disadvantage.”
In a letter to the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board Chair Lolly Lesher on September 17, USDA says they consider the mandatory participation in Scope 3 GHG accounting for dairy producers, the U.S. Dairy Materiality Assessment; U.S. Dairy Net Zero Initiative; Pathways to Dairy Net Zero; Greener Cattle Initiative; Sustainability Alliance; U.S. Dairy Stewardship Commitment; the mandatory participation in the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management Environmental Stewardship by dairy producers, and 2050 environmental stewardship goals related to ESG commitments to be inconsistent with USDA policy.
Per USDA’s letter, the checkoff program must submit a list of ESG projects, along with contract or proposed contract terminations to USDA by September 30, 2026. The agency will then work with the checkoff to decide which programs need to be eliminated. While USDA executes the guidance, both parties will submit joint status reports every 30 days.
USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Dudley Hoskins sent a memorandum advising the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service to guarantee ESG related programs are not funded with any checkoff money.
In a statement to Farm Journal, Dairy Management Inc states, “We will continue to fully support the USDA’s directive to prioritize agricultural production, producer profitability, and market expansion, ensuring all activities remain aligned with statutory authorities and Administration policy.
We will work closely with USDA to review our projects and to take necessary steps to modify or terminate contracts and activities as needed while maintaining our commitment to our authorized promotion, research, and consumer information functions.”
“We are very encouraged by this great news today for America’s dairy farmers,” WILL Deputy Counsel, Rebecca Furdek, says in an online statement. “Following our lawsuit, the Trump Administration is ending a costly and unconstitutional practice of forcing dairy farmers to fund radical ESG demands with the ‘Dairy Checkoff.’ This was a clear example of unelected and unaccountable federal bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. pushing an ideological agenda on our hardworking American farmers.”
USDA Says ESG Differs from Regenerative Agriculture
In an interview with AgDay, USDA Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Richard Fordyce clarifies that the ESG programs differ from the administration’s investment in regenerative agriculture, which is voluntary conservation on agricultural land.
He says the Regenerative Pilot Program was created by USDA to focus on soil health and look at conservation planning from a “whole farm standpoint”.
“Instead of NRCS supporting from technical assistance or a financial assistance standpoint on a single resource concern that a farm may have, USDA’s looking at that farm from a holistic standpoint,” Fordyce says. He adds most farms are diversified and the goal of the program to help connect them with programs, technology and innovation that can help them improve their farms on multiple fronts.
“We’re going to focus on improving the country’s farms’ soil health, and that’s just going to be a win for everyone,” Fordyce says.
