July 8, 2025
For Immediate Release
Contact: Michael Marsh, President and CEO
(202) 629-9320
NCAE Urges USDA to Issue Report and Referral on Potential Misuse of Government Grant Monies
(Arlington, VA) The National Council of Agricultural Employers (NCAE) is urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to issue a report – and, if appropriate, a criminal referral – regarding allegations from farmworkers that they were targeted and coerced by union activists to sign union authorization cards to receive federal grant payments related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Entrusting anti-farmer activists to disburse federal grant funds was a shortsighted mistake made by the previous Administration,” noted Michael Marsh, President and CEO of NCAE. “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 again 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 USDA to produce information regarding their relationship with UFW Foundation and their “contact persons,” the UFW team. In a letter sent earlier today, NCAE explained that OIG has been investigating these allegations since at least July 23, 2024. At this time, no report has been issued, and no criminal referral has been made to the Department of Justice.
Apparently, 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 the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by NCAE 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.
In Spring and Summer of 2024, several media outlets reported farmworkers’ claims in California like those received and reported to USDA by NCAE in 2023 that had occurred in New York.
“We are grateful for the responsiveness and compliance from the Agricultural Marketing Service regarding this inquiry,” noted Marsh. “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. It appears that the dearth of accountability under the previous Administration created a perfect storm under which nefarious behavior might occur.”
“The agricultural community has greatly appreciated Secretary Rollins’ advocacy on their behalf regarding agricultural labor. Likewise, we know that under Secretary Rollins’ leadership, that lack of accountability will not stand.”
NCAE is the national trade association focusing on agricultural labor issues from the employer’s viewpoint.
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