USDA Ends Mandatory Farmer Funding of ESG Commitments in Dairy Checkoff

(Washington, D.C., September 17, 2026) - Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins reaffirmed the Administration's commitment to American farmers, announcing the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) decisive action to end dairy checkoff funding for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) overregulation. This action aligns research and promotion activities with the Department's priorities and the original mission of the checkoffs. USDA remains committed to ensuring that every dollar collected from American producers serves American agriculture for the better.

"American dairy producers, cattle ranchers, and farmers pay checkoff assessments so those dollars can build demand for their products - not bankroll radical climate agendas that raise costs and constrain production," said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins. "Today's action returns the Dairy Checkoff and all research and promotion programs to their core mission: expanding markets and supporting the hardworking men and women who feed this country. We will not allow producer dollars to underwrite mandates that put American agriculture at a disadvantage."

Background: Under the Dairy Production Stabilization Act, checkoff funds are authorized for promotion, research, and nutrition education that strengthen markets for U.S. dairy. The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, established through the checkoff, has pursued extensive ESG initiatives, including greenhouse-gas and net-zero targets. USDA's action ends checkoff support for those ESG-related projects while allowing necessary administrative functions that do not advance such agendas. This action also directs the Agricultural Marketing Service to ensure no research and promotion funds in other commodity checkoffs advance ESG mandates. American producers substantially fund these checkoff programs through mandatory assessments. Those funds must serve their statutory purpose of strengthening markets for agriculture - not advance misguided external ESG agendas that can raise costs or potentially constrain production.

Read the LETTER (PDF, 120 KB) and MEMO (PDF, 158 KB).

While USDA is taking swift action to bar the Dairy Checkoff from spending farmer paid dollars on the radical ESG ideology, when focused on its core mission, the Dairy Checkoff is largely a success. Independent economists at Texas A&M have found that Checkoff investments increased the demand for promoted dairy products and dairy exports, and the gains in profit at the producer level from promotion were larger than the costs of the program. The aggregate all-dairy return-on-investment (ROI) is $5.93 for each dollar spent on activities. Dairy product specific ROI's are $4.16 for fluid milk, $2.67 for cheese, $24.85 for butter, and $12.82 for exports. Similar ROI studies are conducted for all research and promotion boards and have shown returns, for example: Beef - $13.41; Cotton - $6.40; and Softwood Lumber - $33.54.

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