In April 2023, Food & Water Watch and allies had a decisive and long-awaited victory in our coalition challenge to an unlawful USDA rule. This win ensures that rural communities will have access to information about proposed factory farms, and it confirms that USDA must consider the environmental impacts of proposed factory farms when it uses public money to finance these dirty facilities.

When the federal government takes a significant action like issuing a loan to build a proposed factory farm, it must comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA is a bedrock federal environmental law that requires agencies to analyze the environmental impacts of their actions before they act, to ensure sound and fully-informed decision making. But in 2016, USDA’s Farm Service Agency issued a rule eliminating NEPA review for most of its financing of so-called “medium” sized factory farms. This decision left rural communities in the dark and paved the way for ever more financing of Big Ag without first considering the consequences for people or the environment. 

In 2019, Food & Water Watch and partners sued USDA over this arbitrary rule, and after several years of waiting, the judge issued a strong opinion agreeing that the rule was unjustified and striking it down. Going forward, USDA will again have to do a NEPA environmental assessment when it decides to finance a factory farm, including providing a public participation process. This victory is an important step toward holding USDA accountable for its irresponsible financing of factory farms, and it will help impacted citizens access the information they need.