Jul 14, 2025

NCAE urges USDA to stop government grant abuse

The National Council of Agricultural Employers (NCAE) is urging the USDA to investigate allegations of farmworker union abuse and, if warranted, issue a report and refer the matter for criminal prosecution.

The NCAE contends farmworkers were targeted and coerced by union activists to sign union authorization cards to receive federal grant payments related to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a news release.

“Entrusting anti-farmer activists to disburse federal grant funds was a shortsighted mistake made by the previous administration,” Michael Marsh, NCAE’s president and CEO, said in the release. “What could possibly go wrong with a plan like that? We trust that Secretary Rollins will move quickly to close the book on this matter if the evidence the IG’s investigation uncovers reflects the veracity of the farmworkers’ claims.”

In 2023 and in 2024, NCAE contacted the USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) regarding allegations made by farmworkers that organizers with the United Farm Workers (UFW) were coercing or tricking farmworkers into signing “card check” unionization cards as a condition of receiving grant funds under the Farm and Food Workers Relief (FFWR) grant program. Signing a union card was not a prerequisite for farmworkers receiving the grant.

Last year, NCAE filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that asked the USDA to produce information regarding its relationship with UFW Foundation and their “contact persons” on the UFW team. In a letter sent in mid-July, NCAE explained that OIG has been investigating these allegations since at least July 2024. At this time, no report has been issued, and no criminal referral has been made to the Department of Justice, according to the release.

Allegedly, the grant recipient, United Farm Workers’ Foundation (UFWF) had selected UFW to assist in disbursement of grants to workers. UFWF reportedly received $95 million to disburse, but NCAE’s FOIA request with the USDA failed to provide any agreements or financial reporting provided by UFWF to the USDA regarding the disbursements made, balances retained, unused funds returned to USDA as undisbursed monies, nor payments made by UFWF to organizations such as UFW, according to the release.

“We are grateful for the responsiveness and compliance from the Agricultural Marketing Service regarding this inquiry,” Marsh said in the release. “The documents provided thus far by the Agricultural Marketing Service suggest that America’s agricultural community’s concerns, shared by both farmworkers and employers, were frustratingly not shared by the previous administration.”