We launched the Food Policy Tracker in January to follow federal actions that impact the US food system. Of the more than 100 stories we’ve published, these matter most.
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We launched the Food Policy Tracker in January to follow federal actions that impact the US food system. Of the more than 100 stories we’ve published, these matter most.
August 4, 2025
In May, banners of President Donald Trump and President Abraham Lincoln were hung on the facade of USDA headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Lisa Held)
Since the launch of our Food Policy Tracker just seven months ago, Civil Eats has published more than 100 posts covering Congress’ actions and the Trump administration’s efforts to transform the federal government.
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In that time, we’ve reached thousands of new readers, received dozens of tips, and have broken news on rollbacks to diversity and equity initiatives, the freezing of farm grants, and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its impact on food and farming. Lawmakers have also sought out the Tracker to share exclusive news, recognizing the value of the platform.
Through on-the-ground reporting by our intrepid Senior Staff Reporter and Contributing Editor Lisa Held, as well as editing and support from the entire team, the Tracker has allowed us to document how funding cuts are hurting farmers, detailing how their contracts to sell crops to local schools or implement climate-smart practices have been canceled.
The Tracker has also followed emerging Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) developments, including the release of a report about childhood chronic disease and obesity, a push to get companies to remove artificial food dyes from their products, and a proposal to define ultra-processed foods.
With immigration playing an outsize role in the nation’s food system, the Tracker is keeping close tabs on changes to the H-2A Guest Worker program and hosts an up-to-date list of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on farms and other food businesses.
The Tracker was featured by the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), and we recently hosted a behind-the-scenes online salon, moderated by INN’s Paulina Velasco, to discuss the Tracker, which well over 100 people attended.
You can sign up to receive instant updates or the weekly digest. We’re proud of all we’ve accomplished in this short period, and we have a lot more in store.
For now, we’re sharing some of the most important stories the Food Policy Tracker has followed so far, in chronological order.
Matthew Fitzgerald, a young farmer in Minnesota, poses in his tractor during a spate of federal spending cuts, including to international food aid. (Photo courtesy of Matthew Fitzgerald)
1. Exclusive: DOGE Cancels Contract That Enables Farmer Payments, Despite $0 Savings
February 19, 2025
Civil Eats was the first to report on how the Department of Government Efficiency pulled the plug on a contract that enabled thousands of farmers in multiple states to access previously approved grant funding.
2. USDA Continues to Roll Out Deeper Cuts to Farm Grants: A List
March 11, 2025
As details of the agency’s freeze on grant payments trickled out and farmers struggled to get answers, we began a running list of which programs were frozen, canceled, or still operating.
3. USDA Publicizes Canceling a Grant to an Organization That Trains Young Farmers
March 13, 2025
The Agriculture Secretary posted an Instagram “DOGE update” announcing that USDA had canceled a $397,000 grant in the Bay Area because it aimed “to educate queer, trans, and BIPOC urban farmers.” Civil Eats tracked down the name of the recipient group, and later published an in-depth story about them.
4. Exclusive: Senator Cory Booker Introduces Bill to ‘Honor Farmer Contracts’
March 27, 2025
Booker’s bill, also introduced in the House by Representative Gabe Vasquez (D-Texas), would require the USDA to release frozen grant funds and prohibit the termination of existing contracts.
5. 6 Proposed Farm Bill Changes to Watch
April 10, 2025
A roundup of important bills that touch land access, meat industry concentration, state animal welfare laws, crop insurance, and more.
Members of Together We Will gather outside a USDA research facility in Albany, California, to demonstrate in support of federal workers and against Trump administration cuts to the USDA. (Photo credit: Brian Calvert)
6. USDA Shares (Incomplete) List of Frozen Programs With Congress
April 11, 2025
For the first time, the agency provided details on its review of grant programs with Congress. But Civil Eats reviewed the list and found that, based on our ongoing reporting, several stalled programs were missing.
7. USDA Cancels Climate-Smart Commodities Program, but Some Projects May Continue
April 14, 2025
The agency said it would review existing projects based on new criteria and continue to fund those that qualify under a new name, the Advancing Markets for Producers initiative.
8. Trump Orders Deregulation of the US Fishing Industry
April 18, 2025
The push for deregulation outlined in an executive order came on top of significant cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which monitors fish stocks. Civil Eats followed up with a deeper look at what the NOAA cuts might mean for fisheries.
9. Lawmakers Listen to Farmer Concerns During Two-Week Break
April 21, 2025
During the Congressional recess, lawmakers around the country from both parties heard directly from farmers about their worries concerning federal funding freezes and cuts. Civil Eats attended one event and included reporting on others.
10. FDA Plans to Eliminate Artificial Food Dyes By End of 2026
April 22, 2025
Commissioner Marty Makary and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said food companies are eager to work with them on removing petroleum-based dyes from foods.
Agroecology Commons, a nonprofit farming collective based in El Sobrante, California, was among many groups whose grants were canceled by the USDA. (Photo credit: Riley Ramirez)
11. Exclusive: Representative Chellie Pingree Introduces Agriculture Resilience Act
April 22, 2025
The organic farmer from Maine said the bill will help farms survive, and will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from farming at a time when Republicans are actively fighting climate action.
12. Federal Agents Detain Workers at a Vermont Dairy Farm
April 24, 2025
Back in April, when the Trump administration’s approach to immigrant farmworkers was still unclear, this raid marked the first signal that the food system would not be spared as the Department of Homeland Security stepped up its mass deportation campaign.
13. USDA Scraps Rules That Would Have Stopped Sale of Salmonella-Tainted Chicken
April 25, 2025
The framework proposed under President Biden was called “one of the greatest advances in food safety in a generation.”
14. 5 Takeaways from the First 100 Days of Tracking the Trump Administration on Food and Farming
April 30, 2025
From funding freezes to climate rollbacks, a review of some of the biggest stories from the first 100 days of the second Trump administration.
15. USDA Hangs Massive Banners of Trump and Lincoln
May 15, 2025
Trump has repeatedly compared himself to Lincoln, who signed legislation creating the USDA in 1862. Our photos of the USDA’s new display were some of the first posted by a news organization.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks alongside President Donald Trump during a press conference in May, in Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Andrew Harnik, Getty Images)
16. EPA Defunds Research Into PFAS Contamination on Farms
May 19, 2025
University teams studying how “forever chemicals” contaminate soil and groundwater, including projects focused on farms, lost millions in grant funding.
17. USDA Introduces Policy Agenda Focused on Small Farms
May 20, 2025
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins rolled out a 10-point plan that included environmental deregulation and prioritizing local farmers in food procurement policies, despite the fact that the USDA had withdrawn and canceled more than $1 billion for such funding earlier in the year.
18. MAHA Report Focuses on Ultra-processed Foods, Goes Light on Pesticide Risks
May 22, 2025
RFK Jr. and other members of the cabinet emphasized feeding kids “whole foods produced by American farmers,” but their actions to date may be making that harder.
19. USDA Drops Rules Requiring Farmers to Record Their Use of the Most Toxic Pesticides
June 3, 2025
Pesticide watchdog groups said the regulations should be strengthened, not thrown out.
20. Agriculture Appropriations Bill Could Gut Landmark Farmer Protections
June 9, 2025
Republicans included provisions in the bill to prevent the implementation and enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards rules, completed under Biden.
Federal immigration agents face off against protestors in Camarillo, California, during a raid in July. (Photo credit: Brian Calvert)
21. ICE Raids Target Workers on Farms and in Food Production: A Running List
June 11, 2025
Immigration enforcement actions at workplaces increased significantly as federal agencies attempted to meet new White House goals of 3,000 arrests per day. We are keeping a record of those actions here, as they happen.
22. USDA Cancels Additional Grants Funding Land Access and Training for Young Farmers
June 24, 2025
The future of other awards in the Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program remains unclear.
23. Department of Labor Suspends Protections for H-2A Guest Workers and Announces Plan to Bring in More
June 25, 2025
The administration said a new office will speed up farmer applications, but worker groups said that means protections for guest workers are needed more than ever.
24. Federal Agents Detain Farmworkers in Large-Scale Raids at Two Southern California Farms
July 10, 2025
Civil Eats reported from the scene, where officers pointed guns, threw smoke canisters, and shot rubber bullets at protestors.
25. USDA Cancels More Support for Regional Food Systems
July 15, 2025
The agency eliminated the Regional Food Business Centers, which help small farms and other food businesses build local infrastructure. Civil Eats reported on the centers’ work earlier this year.
September 24, 2025
In a recent paper, University of Iowa professor Silvia Secchi finds that the current Census of Agriculture is neither complete nor accurate, and could skew federal research and investment.
January 20, 2025
September 23, 2025
September 22, 2025
September 17, 2025
September 19, 2025
September 18, 2025
September 18, 2025
September 17, 2025
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