The News: Members of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation, including Representatives Tony Wied (R-08), Bryan Steil (WI-01), Derrick Van Orden (WI-03), Glenn Grothman (WI-06), Tom Tiffany (WI-07), and Scott Fitzgerald (WI-05) are calling on the United States Department of Agriculture to investigate and end discriminatory race- and sex-based policies against Adam Faust, a Wisconsin dairy farmer represented by WILL.
For years, Mr. Faust has actively fought back against discriminatory USDA programs that violate both the U.S. Constitution. Despite these efforts, he still faces uncertainty and is subject to several race-based policies that continue to hurt millions of farmers nationwide. If not corrected soon, WILL has promised to file a federal lawsuit against the Trump Administration.
The Quotes: WILL Deputy Legal Counsel, Dan Lennington, stated, “While the Trump Administration has made progress against government-sponsored discrimination, the USDA remains a glaring holdout, inflicting economic pain on millions of farmers based on their race. This isn’t just bad policy, it’s a blatant violation of the Constitution. We commend the Wisconsin delegation for their support of Mr. Faust and farmers across Wisconsin.”
Congressman Tony Wied, in the letter, stated, “My colleagues and I are asking the USDA to investigate this important issue and to remove all discriminatory race- and sex-based policies impacting Mr. Faust. We also call for the USDA to end all other programs that courts across the country have widely established as unconstitutional race discrimination. These practices clearly conflict with President Trump’s agenda.”
Our Client: Adam Faust, a dairy farmer from Chilton, Wisconsin. He is one of the 2 million white male American farmers (60% of all farmers) who are still subject to discriminatory race-based policies implemented by the Biden administration’s USDA. In a landmark 2021 victory, Mr. Faust was the first farmer to successfully sue the Biden administration for race discrimination in the Farmer Loan Forgiveness Plan.
Additional Background: The Trump Administration has taken many commendable steps to root out race discrimination in many agencies; however, race-based policies and programs persist. USDA is the worst offender, running over two dozen race-based programs that unconstitutionally discriminate against farmers and ranchers every day. Three that affect our client the most can be found below:
Discriminatory Dairy Margin Coverage Administrative Fee: DMC offers financial assistance when the margin between the milk price and the average feed cost falls below a specific coverage level chosen by the producer. All “socially disadvantaged farmers” are exempt from the fee. USDA regulations define this phrase to include only the following racial groups: American Indians or Alaskan Natives, Asians or Asian Americans, blacks or African Americans, Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, and women.
Discriminatory Loan Guarantee Program: USDA guarantees loans to farmers, but white males may only receive a guarantee of 90% of the value of the loan, while women and minorities receive a 95% guarantee. A lower guarantee means higher interest rates and loan costs, and lower overall loan amounts.
The Environmental Quality Incentives Program: According to the USDA, EQIP is a “conservation program that helps farmers, ranchers and forest landowners integrate conservation into working lands.” Our client is participating in the program, and hopes to use the program to offset costs of a new manure storage facility, but “socially disadvantaged farmers” receive more money than Mr. Faust based on their race.
Fighting for Equality: Since 2021, WILL has represented over 80 clients in 25 states as part of its Equality Under the Law (EUL) Project and has won seven times in court, including Faust v. Vilsack, and several of our cases are still pending.
Earlier this year, WILL released our “Roadmap to Equality,” which continues to track the Trump Administration’s progress on the elimination of DEI and all taxpayer-funded discrimination.
Read more: Federal Delegation Letter, May 2025 WILL’s Letter, April 2025
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