Organic farmers and environmental groups sued the Agriculture Bureau on Monday over a scrub of climate change references from the website.
The department ordered staff to defeat a climate-focused page on Jan. 30, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Within hours, he said the information began to disappear.
The lawsuit included a website containing datasets, interactive tools, and funding information that farmers and researchers relied on planning and adaptation projects.
At the same time, the department has frozen funds promised to businesses and nonprofits through conservation and climate programs. The Purge then said, “we deleted important information about these programs from public records and denied access to the resources needed to advocate for the funds they owed.”
The Agriculture sector did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit was filed by Columbia University's Night First Amendment Institute on behalf of the San Francisco-based Earthjustice lawyers and the Binghamton-based New York Northeast Organic Agricultural Association. The Natural Resources Defense Council based in New York. A Washington-based environmental working group. The latter two groups relied on the department's website for research and advocacy, the lawsuit said.
Earthjustice lawyer Peter Lehner said the pages that have been removed are important for farmers facing climate change-related risks, including heat waves, droughts, floods, extreme weather and wildfires. I did. The website contained information on how to reduce the risks and adopt new agricultural technologies and strategies. Long-term weather data and trends are valuable in the agricultural industry for planning, research and business strategy.
“We can wipe out the website with the word climate change, but that doesn't mean that climate change will go away,” Leaner said.
The site under the division's umbrella includes the Forest Service site. This is responsible for managing forests and grasslands. Natural Resources Conservation Services that help landowners implement conservation practices. And other sectors focus on farms and ranches, disaster recovery and rural development.
According to the lawsuit, the order to remove the page came via email from Peter Lee, the department's director of digital communications.
The plaintiffs allege that the lawsuit violates three federal laws and “arbitrarily, whimsical, abuse of discretion or incomprehensible with the law.” They asked the court to restore the page and block the deletion of other pages.
Wes Gillingham, board president of the Organic Farming Association in Northeastern New York, said farmers are just heading towards planning a summer growth season. He said it was pointless to remove information because of the “political agenda on climate change.”
He has been farming at Catskill Mountain in Livingston Manor, New York for 30 years and is currently raising Icelandic sheep. He previously cultivated vegetables for a community-supported farming programme, but stopped about 20 years ago when his surgery was wiped out in three major floods in five years. .
Gillingham said his organization is New York's largest organic certified certifier and a major hub for small farms. They often send farmers to the agricultural sector website for information about conservation programs and which agricultural practices qualify for grants and loans. They also direct people to resources such as equipment lending.
“Now, because of climate change and farmers are facing extreme weather events, we need all the information available,” he said. “We don't have access to it. We're not going to make it.”
