Exclusive: Trump Administration Targets Lawfare Against Farmers, Ranchers

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration is targeting lawfare weaponized against farmers and ranchers, notably under President Joe Biden, The Daily Wire can first report.

The Department of Agriculture and the Small Business Administration will announce a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Thursday to combat weaponized regulatory and enforcement actions against American farmers, ranchers, and small businesses.

That MOU between the two agencies will fight the “abusive government overreach” and protect farmers, their families, private property, and small businesses. It builds on Pillar 4 of the Farmer and Rancher Freedom Framework, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins emphasized, “by building a government-wide shield against lawfare.”

Rollins and Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler argued Thursday that radical environmentalist NGOs, government agencies, and activist groups have targeted American ranchers and farmers, forced them to pay massive sums in fines, to give up their best grazing lands, and to sell generational properties.

“This is a really, really important issue, for our rural America, for farmers and ranchers, and what has taken place over a number of decades,” Rollins told The Daily Wire in a phone interview on Thursday morning, describing how “the government at all levels, federal, state, local,” under both Republicans and Democrats, has taken “our ranching, our farming land, even our small businesses.” 

Rollins pointed to numerous cases in which the government — spurred by environmental initiatives or corporate interests — took American homes and farmland. She specifically pointed to the Maude case, which involved fifth-generation ranchers from South Dakota whose property had been in their family for more than 100 years. President Joe Biden’s Justice Department targeted Charles and Heather Maude, indicting them both on felony charges of theft of government property over a fence dispute.

Both Charles and Heather Maude were horrified to find that they were indicted separately, Rollins explained, facing up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines each. A judge even restricted the couple from discussing the case with one another and required them to hire separate defense attorneys.

The case sparked national outcry, particularly among agricultural advocacy groups and lawmakers who understood the agricultural landscape, and under the Trump USDA and DOJ, the charges were dropped in April 2025.

“They were bankrupted, basically, because of their legal fees,” Rollins explained. The Trump administration quickly brought the Maudes to Washington and has helped them share their story. Rollins believes it is an example of how “at some point government has gotten too big and too weaponized,” and action must be taken to protect American liberty. 

In a Thursday morning phone interview with The Daily Wire, Loeffler explained that the MOU will formalize what she and Rollins have been doing informally for the last year and a half — “advocating for what is America’s original small business, which is farming.” 

Ninety-eight percent of Americans used to be farmers, Loeffler pointed out, and now that figure has plummeted to 2%. 

“I can only imagine how difficult it is now being there amid the radical environmental push that is playing out on our farmlands, our ranching lands across this country,” she shared.

The partnership between the SBA and USDA will seek to give farmers a voice on par with the federal government, Loeffler told The Daily Wire, “mobilizing an all-of-government approach behind farmers and ranchers and to stand up against the radical environmental movements and other movements that want to displace our farmers and ranchers, not just their operations, but their livelihoods.” 

Rollins and Loeffler will share the news during a presser Thursday morning with Special Envoy for American Ranchers John Rich, Director of the Bureau of Land Management Stevan Pearce, Representative Harriet Hageman, Representative Eli Crane, and producers and ranchers.