A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to restore a $7.4 million grant to a nonprofit after ruling the agency likely broke the law when it pulled the funding in March.

The grant went to HOPE for Small Farm Sustainability, a Harlingen nonprofit. The organization says the funding will help pay for farmland, equipment and training for new farmers.

The nonprofit is now waiting for the USDA to release the funds.

"I'm excited. I'm scared. I'm hopeful. It's a little bit of everything. We're going to work it as best as we can because we want to prove that this is a good grant and this has really good intentions, and that is something that we need," HOPE for Small Farm Sustainability Founder Diana Garcia Padilla said.

The funding would also allow the group to expand beyond the Valley into Central Texas, where it could hire educators and purchase land to harvest.

In a March 23, 2026, letter, the USDA said it canceled the grant following a review of the Increasing Land, Capital and Market Access Program, which started during the Biden administration. The USDA said the program was "rife with DEI preferences" and an example of wasteful spending.

The Land, Capital and Market Access Network announced the restored funding on July 1. Federal Judge Beryl Howell granted a preliminary injunction covering 24 organizations and local governments with grant agreements under the program.

Howell wrote that the plaintiffs "have demonstrated that the terminations of their individual grants were likely contrary to statute, that they will suffer irreparable harm in the absence of relief and that the balance of equities and public interest favor preliminary injunctive relief."

The judge ordered the USDA to update the court on efforts to restore the canceled grant awards, which total more than $127 million.