Wisconsin dairy farmer sues Trump administration claiming discrimination
against white farmers
[June 17, 2025]
By SCOTT BAUER
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin dairy farmer alleged in a federal
lawsuit filed Monday that the Trump administration is illegally denying
financial assistance to white farmers by continuing programs that favor
minorities.
The conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed the
lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture in federal court in
Wisconsin on behalf of a white dairy farmer, Adam Faust.
Faust was among several farmers who successfully sued the Biden
administration in 2021 for race discrimination in the USDA's Farmer Loan
Forgiveness Plan.
The new lawsuit alleges the government has continued to implement
diversity, equity and inclusion programs that were instituted under
former President Joe Biden. The Wisconsin Institute wrote to the USDA in
April warning of legal action, and six Republican Wisconsin congressmen
called on the USDA to investigate and end the programs.
“The USDA should honor the President’s promise to the American people to
end racial discrimination in the federal government,” Faust said in a
written statement. “After being ignored by a federal agency that’s meant
to support agriculture, I hope my lawsuit brings answers,
accountability, and results from USDA.”
A spokesperson for the USDA declined to comment, saying the agency does
not comment on pending lawsuits.
John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association, said the
lawsuit is “frustrating for me personally and as the leader of this
movement.”
“The farmers that are hurting now are clearly the Black farmers out
here,” he said. “You can couch it any way you want.”
The lawsuit contends that Faust is one of 2 million white male American
farmers who are subject to discriminatory race-based policies at the
USDA.
The lawsuit names three USDA programs and policies it says put white men
at a disadvantage and violate the Constitution’s guarantee of equal
treatment by discriminating based on race and sex.
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In this photo released by The Wisconsin Institute for Law and
Liberty, Faust’s attorneys, Wisconsin dairy farmer Adam Faust, who
is suing the Trump administration alleging discrimination against
white farmers like him, poses inside his dairy barn in Chilton,
Wisconsin, in 2021. (The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty via
AP)
Faust participates in one program designed to offset the gap between
milk prices and the cost of feed, but the lawsuit alleges he is
charged a $100 administrative fee that minority and female farmers
do not have to pay.
Faust also participates in a USDA program that guarantees 90% of the
value of loans to white farmers, but 95% to women and racial
minorities. That puts Faust at a disadvantage, the lawsuit alleges.
Faust has also begun work on a new manure storage system that could
qualify for reimbursement under a USDA environmental conservation
program, but 75% of his costs are eligible while 90% of the costs of
minority farmers qualify, the lawsuit contends.
A federal court judge ruled in a similar 2021 case that granting
loan forgiveness only to “socially disadvantaged farmers” amounts to
unconstitutional race discrimination. The Biden administration
suspended the program and Congress repealed it in 2022.
The Wisconsin Institute has filed dozens of such lawsuits in 25
states attacking DEI programs in government. In its April letter to
the USDA, the law firm that has a long history of representing
Republicans said it didn't want to sue “but there is no excuse for
this continued discrimination.”
Trump has been aggressive in trying to end the government’s DEI
efforts to fulfill a campaign promise and bring about a profound
cultural shift across the U.S. from promoting diversity to an
exclusive focus on merit.
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