USDA will bring back deleted climate content following lawsuit

The U.S. Department of Agriculture removed key online climate resources after President Donald Trump's inauguration, but a federal lawsuit has forced the agency to commit to restoring the information.

Melina Walling reports for The Associated Press.

In short:

• The USDA agreed to restore webpages with climate-related content that were taken down after Trump’s January inauguration, avoiding a court injunction hearing set for May 21.
• The removed content included guidance on climate-smart agriculture, rural energy initiatives, conservation programs, and climate-linked loans — some of it funded through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
• The lawsuit was filed by Earthjustice and the Knight First Amendment Institute on behalf of environmental and farming groups who argued the takedown blocked public access to vital federal information.

Key quote:

“I think that the funding freeze and the staff layoffs and the purging of information, they all intertwined as a dangerous triple whammy.”

— Jeffrey Stein, attorney at Earthjustice

Why this matters:

For farmers navigating unpredictable weather and seeking sustainable practices, losing access to federal resources can mean losing essential support. These USDA webpages outlined grants, conservation tools, and policy incentives. Their removal created information black holes just as many rural communities face climate-linked stressors like drought, floods, and energy instability. When governments delete or distort environmental data, it disrupts farming and frontline communities that rely on reliable data to make decisions about land, water, and health. The case also raises broader concerns about transparency and the public’s right to information, a foundation of environmental justice and democracy.

Read more: Climate data is vanishing from government websites, raising alarms