USDA has formally warned California that it views the state’s proposed agricultural land equity framework as unconstitutional, setting up a high-stakes legal and political clash just as a state task force moves to finalize a far-reaching set of recommendations aimed at reshaping land access, ownership and stewardship.
In a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has demanded the state abandon recommendations under consideration by the California Agricultural Land Equity Task Force, arguing that they would unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity and national origin and amount to unconstitutional takings of private property. The letter threatens “immediate legal action” if California proceeds.
The warning landed the same day the 13-member task force convened its final meeting before submitting its report to lawmakers by its January deadline. Following approval from the Legislature in 2022, the Newsom administration launched the task force under the Strategic Growth Council, a cross-agency body that allocates sustainable land use planning grants, and in consultation with Thea Rittenhouse, who is the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s farm equity adviser, and the California Truth & Healing Council, an advisory body focused on acknowledging and addressing historical and ongoing harms experienced by California Native American tribes.
The task force is chaired by Nelson Hawkins, who leads an urban farm and a farming collective in West Sacramento, with Emily Burgueno, head seed keeper for the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel, serving as vice chair.
The panel also has representatives for farmworker advocates, a nonprofit helping marginalized farmers secure capital, and CDFA’s BIPOC Producer Advisory Committee. Ruth Dahlquist-Willard, the interim director of the University of California’s Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program, serves as the academic expert.
At the center of the dispute is the task force’s draft report, Advancing Agricultural Land Equity in California, which argues the state faces an agricultural land equity crisis rooted in historical dispossession, consolidation of land ownership, financialization of farmland, and barriers to secure tenure for farmers and land stewards who have been systematically excluded from land access.
Ruth Dahlquist-Willard (UC SAREP photo)A federal challenge to California’s land equity priorities
Rollins’ argument closely tracks the Trump administration’s broader approach to diversity, equity and inclusion, which treats many race-conscious government programs as inherently suspect, legally vulnerable and politically illegitimate.
She asserts the draft recommendations would divert public resources and constrain private land use to benefit only certain racial and ethnic groups, triggering strict scrutiny under the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. The proposed restrictions on land use, leasing and ownership would violate the Fifth Amendment’s takings clause by imposing limitations without just compensation, she argues. Her letter contends the recommendations would conflict with California’s Proposition 209, which bars preferential treatment based on race, sex, ethnicity or national origin in public programs.
USDA’s accompanying press bulletin frames the task force’s work as promoting redistribution of agricultural land “exclusively to certain minorities,” citing provisions that discuss land acquisition funds, preferential leasing of public land, debt forgiveness, tax incentives, and land transfers to tribes and African American farmers.
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During a six-hour meeting last week to finalize the report, task force members emphasized that they are not directing the state to implement any single policy and are developing a menu of recommendations, pilot concepts and research topics intended to inform future legislative and administrative decisions.
Research, not mandates
The task force scrutinized language in a recommendation addressing farmland consolidation and ownership by large investment entities. Several expressed concern that references to enforcement mechanisms or ownership limits could be read as calls for immediate policy action, rather than proposals to study whether such approaches could advance land equity goals.
“Our collective vision of land equity extends beyond our political boundaries and affiliations,” said Hawkins. “It is a call to action for moral and spiritual accountability, and I look forward to materializing this vision as we cross the finish line together today.”
Members ultimately agreed to revise the language to repeatedly and explicitly frame these provisions as research topics. The discussion reflected an awareness that short excerpts or AI-generated summaries could strip context from the report and amplify claims that the task force was advocating for sweeping new land restrictions.
“My concern is not about redundancy. It's about misinterpretation,” said Dahlquist-Willard, referring to Rollins’ letter. “We want to avoid that kind of misinterpretation, being extra clear that we're not recommending enforcement enactment of anything. We're recommending research on those topics.”
What the report proposes
The 100-page draft report called for system-wide shifts, stating that advancing equity “requires changing policies, practices, systems, and structures to address concentrated market forces and ownership.”
The task force organized its recommendations into six major topic areas, each grounded in two years of public meetings, site visits, advisory input and community engagement involving more than 400 participants statewide.
The task force defines agricultural land equity as ensuring “secure and affordable access to viable land” for producing food, fiber, medicine and cultural resources without systemic barriers or exploitation. It emphasizes that land equity does not have a single meaning or solution but must reflect distinct historical harms and contemporary conditions faced by different communities.
For California Native American tribes, the report frames land equity as inseparable from sovereignty and ancestral land return. For socially disadvantaged and historically underserved farmers and ranchers, it emphasizes stable access to land that can sustain livelihoods and be passed to future generations.
Among the most prominent recommendations are proposals to establish an Ancestral Land Return Fund, embed land return considerations into state programs, and return publicly held land to tribes where appropriate. The report also calls for mechanisms to support traditional ecological knowledge and cultural practices on tribal lands.
Another major focus is land acquisition and financing. The task force recommends creating a Restorative Land Fund to support purchases of agricultural land that could be leased or transferred to priority producers and land stewards, along with loan programs, debt forgiveness and targeted tax incentives. The report emphasizes ongoing evaluation and refinement of these programs rather than one-time interventions.
Nelson Hawkins, We Grow Farms (Facebook photo)In addressing land consolidation, the report calls for studying limits on ownership by large investment entities, developing local “first opportunity to purchase” ordinances, establishing a California Producer Retirement Fund to facilitate land transitions, and creating a land market monitoring program to improve transparency.
The report also addresses preservation of agricultural land, recommending a statewide stewardship plan, improvements to conservation tools, and expanded capacity for state and local governments to lease publicly held land in ways that promote equitable access.
Secure land tenure is another core theme, with recommendations aimed at addressing power imbalances between landowners and tenants, expanding the role of CDFA’s Farm Equity Office, and creating regional agricultural ombudsman positions.
The report calls for stronger support for urban agriculture, including ensuring eligibility for existing programs, providing tailored funding, and making land available for urban producers while addressing barriers to long-term tenure.
A substantial portion of the report is devoted to historical context, tracing how forced labor, discriminatory laws, land seizures, exclusion acts and infrastructure decisions contributed to present-day disparities in land ownership and agricultural opportunity.
It documents the dispossession of California Native American tribes through unratified treaties, forced labor systems and denial of citizenship, as well as land losses experienced by African American farmers through violence, eminent domain and discriminatory lending. It also details the impacts of alien land laws, the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, and exploitative labor programs affecting immigrant farmworkers.
A political and legal crossroads
USDA’s intervention sharply raises the stakes for California policymakers who will soon receive the task force’s final report. While the task force itself has no authority to enact policy, its recommendations are expected to inform legislation, budget decisions and administrative actions in the coming years.
The department’s letter signals that any effort to implement race-conscious land access programs could face immediate federal litigation, particularly in light of recent Supreme Court decisions narrowing the permissible use of race in public policy.
