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A South Dakota nonprofit has lost millions of dollars after the federal government pulled grants designed to help underserved farmers and ranchers.

Four Bands Community Fund in Eagle Butte planned to use its funds to provide loans to people on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation.

"t was going to help them purchase land," said Lakota Vogel, the fund's executive director, "and put the ownership of the land into their names so they could create wealth for their families."

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Vogel said the government told them the grants didn't fit the Trump administration's anti-DEI initiatives.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administered the $300 million program, has contended that many of the projects included "wasteful spending" and didn't improve access to land. The USDA sent termination letters to 49 of the 50 recipients in late March.

Four Bands Community Fund wanted to help people use their land as collateral for loans. Because of complex legal issues and the ownership status of some reservation lands, Vogel said most financial institutions in the United States won't do that.

"It was a really exciting opportunity," she said. "We still do it with our borrowers one by one as they come in, but this would have been a large-scale opportunity to do it with $6 million."

Vogel said losing the grant money has set the program back about a year and a half, but added that they'll continue looking for investors to help fund it.

"I know it's a disappointing time," she said, "but it is still that these entities still exist, and we're still pushing forward with supporting our communities."

Some of the Increasing Land, Capital and Market Access grantees may appeal the decision to cancel the grants.