USDA ends dairy checkoff funding for ESG projects

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will terminate dairy checkoff funding for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) projects. This decision specifically targets greenhouse-gas and net-zero initiatives previously pursued by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy.

Rollins stated that the move aims to realign research and promotion activities with the core mission of checkoff programs, which is to expand markets and build demand for dairy products. The administration emphasized that producer assessments should support American agriculture rather than funding climate agendas that could increase costs or constrain production.