{"id":4284,"date":"2025-09-17T18:26:24","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T18:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ruralsociology.org\/news\/american-bar-association-honors-hannah-haksgaard-for-her-book-the-rural-lawyer-copy\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T15:27:33","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T15:27:33","slug":"usdas-dei-purge","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/ruralsociology.org\/news\/usdas-dei-purge\/","title":{"rendered":"USDA\u2019s DEI Purge: How Trump and Rollins are reshaping American agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-4284\" data-postid=\"4284\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-4284 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n                    <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_row themify_builder_row tb_89ns000 tb_first tf_w\">\n                        <div class=\"row_inner col_align_top tb_col_count_1 tf_box tf_rel\">\n                        <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col-full tb_ay7q939 first\">\n                    <!-- module fancy heading -->\n<div  class=\"module module-fancy-heading tb_b26u036 \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <h1 class=\"fancy-heading\">\n    <span class=\"main-head tf_block\">\n                    USDA\u2019s DEI Purge            <\/span>\n\n    \n    <span class=\"sub-head tf_block tf_rel\">\n                    How Trump and Rollins are reshaping American agriculture            <\/span>\n    <\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module fancy heading -->\n<!-- Breadcrumbs module -->\n<div  class=\"module module-breadcrumbs tb_yx6v105 \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n\t<nav role=\"navigation\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumbs\" class=\"tbp_breadcrumb_trail\"><ul class=\"tbp_trail_items\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/BreadcrumbList\"><meta name=\"numberOfItems\" content=\"1\" \/><meta name=\"itemListOrder\" content=\"Ascending\" \/><li itemprop=\"itemListElement\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ListItem\" class=\"tbp_trail_item tbp_trail_end\"><a itemprop=\"item\" href=\"https:\/\/ruralsociology.org\/\" rel=\"home\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Home<\/span><\/a><meta itemprop=\"position\" content=\"1\" \/><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div><!-- \/Breadcrumbs module -->\n<!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_po6w836   \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n        <p>As the USDA rolls back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, RSS Members\u00a0<strong>Michaela Hoffelmeyer <\/strong>and\u00a0Ike Leslie\u00a0are sounding the alarm on the long-term consequences for agriculture and food security.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>By cutting off support for minority farmers could create more barriers to those interested in agriculture, said RSS Member <strong>Michaela Hoffelmeyer<\/strong>, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has studied the agricultural workforce.<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"669\" data-end=\"993\">\n<p style=\"line-height: 135%;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 135%;\">\u201cIt\u2019s counterintuitive to not invest in this group of farmers because these people are farmers, first and foremost, regardless of their race, gender, sexuality,\u201d <strong>Hoffelmeyer<\/strong> said. \u201cI think it does raise some questions about if we\u2019re really supporting all farmers and what that means long-term for our food supply.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-start=\"671\" data-end=\"993\"><a href=\"https:\/\/investigatemidwest.org\/2025\/09\/16\/usdas-dei-purge-how-trump-and-rollins-are-reshaping-american-agriculture\/\">\ud83d\udd17 Read the full article<\/a><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->        <\/div>\n                        <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the USDA rolls back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, RSS Members <strong>Michaela Hoffelmeyer<\/strong> and Ike Leslie are sounding the alarm on the long-term consequences for agriculture and food security. <br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/investigatemidwest.org\/2025\/09\/16\/usdas-dei-purge-how-trump-and-rollins-are-reshaping-american-agriculture\/\">\ud83d\udd17 Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4286,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","news_announcements":[30,25,39],"class_list":["post-4284","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news_announcements-gender-and-sexualities","news_announcements-member-in-the-news","news_announcements-sociology-of-agriculture-food-safrig","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"ptb_metabox":[],"ptb_taxonomy":{"news_announcements":[{"term_id":30,"name":"Gender and Sexualities","slug":"gender-and-sexualities","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":30,"taxonomy":"news_announcements","description":"","parent":26,"count":3,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":25,"name":"Member in the News","slug":"member-in-the-news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":25,"taxonomy":"news_announcements","description":"","parent":0,"count":45,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":39,"name":"Sociology of Agriculture &amp; 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