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This year, as climate change continued to impact and alter the food system, the Trump administration dismantled many of the climate projects and protections that were put in place to help tackle the problem. Long committed to covering the intersection of the food system and climate change, Civil Eats again kept a record in 2025. To capture the climate policies of the previous administration as a benchmark, we began the year with a look at four years of climate policy under Biden. Soon, our Food Policy Tracker team catalogued the eroding of climate-friendly policies and reported on the cancellation of conservation grants and the blocking of taxpayer dollars for funding solar panels on farmland. Beyond funding, the Civil Eats team covered the government’s proposed removal of a key regulation aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and examined corporate influence on climate policy. We focused on solutions, too, highlighting people, organizations, and ideas that are proving effective in the absence of federal leadership. We wrote about people working with native seeds in California, growing organic buckwheat in the Northwest, planting urban fruit trees in Denver, and encouraging the return of wild oysters in Maine. Indigenous researcher Elsie DuBray made a powerful case for the reintroduction of buffalo as a means of restoring the Western landscape—and as a way to reestablish an ancient, important bond between people and Earth. These are our most important climate-related stories of 2025, in chronological order. How Four Years of Biden Reshaped Food and Farming From day one, the Biden administration prioritized climate, ‘nutrition security,’ infrastructure investments, and reducing food system consolidation. Here’s what the president and his team actually did. Farmers Say Climate-Smart Commodities Projects Are Crumbling Thousands of farmers across the country were enrolled in dozens of projects and expecting USDA payments to implement conservation practices. Now contracts are being cancelled, and farmers face uncertainty. Pasa Sustainable Agriculture’s Climate-Smart Technical Assistance team gathered to train at a sheep farm in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. (Photo courtesy of Pasa Sustainable Agriculture.) Op-ed: The Food System Cannot Become Another Fossil-Fuel Industry Escape Hatch Oil and gas companies, with new federal support, are ramping up production within every aspect of the food chain. If we are to protect ourselves from cataclysmic climate change, we must stop them. Deregulatory Blitz at EPA Includes Climate and Water Rules That Impact Agriculture Administrator Lee Zeldin announced more than 30 deregulatory actions, including steps to roll back rules that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and farm pollution, and to eliminate environmental justice efforts. Acequia de los Vallejos in southern Colorado’s San Luis Valley. (Photo courtesy of the Acequia Institute) An Ancient Irrigation System May Help Farmers Face Climate Change The arid Southwest has a proven model, the acequia, for water use that is local, democratic, and resilient to heat and drought. Agroforestry Projects Across US Now Stymied by Federal Cuts Farming with trees at scale could buffer the impact of climate change. That work faces new obstacles as the USDA slashes funding. The Future of California’s Climate-Smart Farming Programs Can the state’s vaunted regenerative agriculture programs—and its fight against climate change—continue without stronger local support? Could This Arizona Ranch Be a Model for Southwest Farmers? Oatman Flats has undergone a dramatic transformation, becoming the Southwest’s first Regenerative Organic Certified farm and a potential source of ideas for weathering climate change. Warming Waters Cause Invasion of Sea Squirts at Maine Fisheries The small blob-like creatures are wreaking havoc on coastal aquaculture—and climate change is making the problem worse. How Big Ag Lobbyists Perpetuate Climate Inequity Industry groups spend hundreds of millions to cultivate political favor, excluding most Americans from critical decisions about food and climate. Op-ed: There Is No Future Where the Lakota and the Buffalo Don’t Exist Together A tribal food systems fellow says that Buffalo are good for the land, but they also teach us how to relate to place, to other beings, and to ourselves. Trump Cuts Threaten Federal Bee Research A little-known division within the Interior Department is facing elimination, jeopardizing national efforts to protect essential pollinators. A crew at Hedgerow Farms hand harvests Lasthenia californica in Winters, California. (Photo credit: Joshua Scoggin/Hedgerow Farms). Farmworkers Heal Climate-Scarred Land With Native Seeds At California’s Hedgerow Farms, specialists produce seeds to revegetate burned areas, reestablish wetlands, and transform drought-prone farmland. From Bees to Beer, Buckwheat Is a Climate-Solution Crop Farmers and researchers are working together to expand organic buckwheat production in the Northwest and drive demand for this nutritious, ecologically beneficial seed. US Importers Sued for ‘Greenwashing’ Mexican Avocados Most avocados sold in the U.S. come from Mexico, where farming methods have serious environmental and human-rights impacts. Yet importers continue to market the fruit as sustainably grown. EPA Proposes Eliminating Its Own Ability to Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions The repeal of the ‘endangerment finding’ has profound implications for farmers and the entire food system. The MAHA Movement’s Climate Conundrum Make America Healthy Again wants farmers to produce healthier food, but the climate crisis and Trump’s energy policies are making that harder to do. USDA Sets Limits on Rural Energy Loans, Discouraging Renewables The agency announced this week it would prevent taxpayer dollars from going to build solar panels on farmland. As Extreme Weather Increases Flooding on Farms, Federal Support for Climate Resilience Evaporates USDA’s staffing cuts, scuttled conservation programs, and misdirected crop insurance are hitting farmers hard. Denver’s Food Forests Provide Free Fruit While Greening the Environment Despite federal roadblocks, an ambitious agroforestry program is feeding people, cleaning the air, and helping offset climate change. As Federal Support for On-Farm Solar Declines, Is Community Agrivoltaics the Future? While the Trump administration disincentivizes solar developments on farms, agrivoltaics continue anyway, with local and state support. Wild Oysters Make a Comeback in Maine After more than a century, these shellfish have reappeared along the Damariscotta River. Their return is a boon—and a warning of climate change. At COP30, Brazilian Meat Giant JBS Recommends Climate Policy The world’s biggest meat company, a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, is leading food-company efforts to engage in climate talks. The post Our Biggest Climate Stories of 2025 appeared first on Civil Eats.

Long committed to covering the intersection of the food system and climate change, Civil Eats again kept a record in 2025. To capture the climate policies of the previous administration as a benchmark, we began the year with a look at four years of climate policy under Biden. Soon, our Food Policy Tracker team catalogued […] The post Our Biggest Climate Stories of 2025 appeared first on Civil Eats.