The news landed abruptly on Piikani Lodge Health Institute executive Kim Paul last week, when a USDA email notified the nonprofit that a nearly $9 million grant contract had been terminated. Paul described the message as destabilizing for the organization’s work on the Blackfeet Reservation, where the grant was intended to improve agricultural training and support for both Native and non-Native farmers and ranchers.
USDA’s termination letter, according to Paul, said the agency had determined that awards under the program involved “discriminatory preferences based on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and wasteful spending that did little to further lawful agricultural land purchases.” Paul said Piikani Lodge had planned to use the money to build a training hub for food producers and to support about 300 farmers and ranchers in Glacier and Pondera counties, after the nonprofit had separately acquired 600 acres on the reservation.
The farm-grant effort was funded through the Biden-era American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. It supported the Increasing Land, Capital and Market Access Program, which awarded about $300 million to 50 grantees in 2023; USDA terminated 49 of those grants last week, according to the report.
In Montana, Piikani Lodge’s termination also reflected a broader reshaping of agricultural and community-development plans tied to the USDA program. Paul said her organization would have to restructure budgets and staffing, and that the termination could halt the community training center’s construction on the Blackfeet Reservation. She said the project included an industrial community kitchen to help agricultural producers prepare and process products such as jams and jerky.
The Chippewa Cree Tribe in north-central Montana was among the other affected awardees. The tribe received nearly $6 million for a land acquisition project, and Chippewa Cree planning director Neal Rosette said the plan was to purchase agricultural land on and around the reservation and train prospective farmers and ranchers. Rosette said that reservation land can be farmed or used for ranching, but that land prices can keep people from entering agriculture, adding that Rocky Boy’s Reservation is home to almost 3,400 people and that about 35% live below the poverty line, according to U.S. Census data.
Rosette said his team had tried to close on a 320-acre reservation property for months, with the land costing about $400,000, but that the tribe had received only about $50,000 of the nearly $6 million grant since 2023. He described the USDA communication as limited and said the termination letter marked a turning point. “They drug their feet, drug their feet, and then finally they pulled the rug out from under us,” he said, adding that the termination felt emotionally overwhelming: receiving the letter was “the first time I’ve ever got to the point where I felt like crying.”
Rosette and Piikani Lodge leaders disputed USDA’s explanation that tribal-focused agriculture programs fall under Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Paul and Rosette pointed to a May 2025 memorandum by Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins that, in Rosette’s telling, recognized a government-to-government relationship with tribes that is legally distinct from policy-based DEI programs. Rosette said, “We are a sovereign nation,” describing the tribe’s political relationship with the U.S. government.
Montana political leaders also weighed in on the DEI rationale. Democratic state Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, a citizen of the Chippewa Cree Tribe who is running for Congress in Montana’s eastern district, called USDA’s reasoning “ludicrous,” saying, “DEI is the new buzzword in D.C.” He argued that the decision reflected a lack of representation for tribes in Washington. The report said other congressional offices—incumbent U.S. Congressman Troy Downing, Sen. Steve Daines, Sens. Tim Sheehy and Rep. Ryan Zinke—responded in varying ways or did not respond by deadline.
Walter Schweitzer, president of the Montana Farmers Union, said USDA actions could make it harder for young people to enter farming and ranching as land, livestock and equipment costs rise and as more farms are purchased by corporate entities. He said the average age of a farmer or rancher is “somewhere around 60,” and said encouraging diversity in agriculture brings different ideas.
Piikani Lodge development leaders said tribal land producers face additional challenges. Micaela Young said a patchwork of federal policies has created complex patterns of property ownership on reservations, and that banks often struggle to navigate those legal, bureaucratic and financial specifics, limiting prospective producers’ access to capital. She also said many tribal communities are far from markets where they could sell products, and she linked the kind of funding that USDA terminated to broader community well-being, including hopes for jobs and income and support for families.
USDA cited examples in its termination letter to Piikani Lodge, including a “$20,000 allocation for a barbeque smoker,” which the agency said was outside the program’s mission of increasing land access. Paul said she found the characterization hurtful, saying: “To say this was built on fraud? It’s a travesty.”
Looking ahead, Piikani Lodge leaders said they plan to appeal through USDA’s National Appeals Division, which reports directly to the secretary, before a 30-day deadline. Andrew Berger, director of agriculture and climate adaptation at Piikani Lodge, said the organization is drafting a petition urging restoration of the funds, adding that the grant supported salaries and internships and that the group would need other money to fill gaps. Rosette said the Chippewa Cree Tribe plans to ask USDA to reconsider its decision, though he said it is unclear whether the tribe will file an appeal because it would require time and resources. “Whether they will listen?” he asked.