Legal Defense Fund
Tipping the Scales of Justice for New York Agriculture
What is the New York Farm Bureau Legal Defense Fund?
New York Farm Bureau maintains its Legal Defense Fund to raise money for Farm Bureau’s efforts to protect farmers’ rights in the legal arena. The Legal Defense Fund is utilized in cases that involve a Farm Bureau policy issue and stand to have far-reaching impact on farmers throughout the state. The fund is not designed to help individual farmers with personal legal problems; however, all of agriculture benefits from it. How? Because it is used to protect the rights of agriculturists in precedent-setting legal cases in New York State and around the country.
How has the Legal Defense Fund been used in the past?
The NYFB Legal Defense Fund has been utilized many times in the past, including:
- Protected farmers in precedent-setting environmental cases like Willett Dairy and Lewis Family Farm
- Assistance in underwriting the costs of a Petition challenging the EPA CAFO Rules, as well as other CAFO-related lawsuits
- Preparation and submission of comments to the proposed EPA dredging of the Hudson River to protect farmland
- Defense of the State Agriculture Districts Law.
- Assistance in underwriting the costs of challenging the release of farmers’ personal information by the EPA to environmental groups in violation of the federal Freedom of Information Act;
- Defense of the State Agriculture Districts Law; and
- Preparation and filing of a motion to intervene (granted) as a party in a lawsuit that seeks to declare a decades-old prohibition on collective bargaining for farmworkers to be “unconstitutional.”
How can I support the Legal Defense Fund?
Down through the years, the NYFB Legal Defense Fund has relied on contributors like you to support our legal advocacy efforts. The effectiveness of the Legal Defense Fund is dependent upon our member donors to stay strong, and able to meet the demands of the future.
If you would like the satisfaction of knowing you are a supporter of agricultural legal advocacy, please make a check payable to New York Farm Bureau Legal Defense Fund and mail to: New York Farm Bureau, Inc., Legal Defense Fund, 159 Wolf Road, Suite 300, Albany, New York 12205-0330.
(Please note contributions are not deductible as a charitable contribution)
There are numerous challenges facing the agricultural industry today—to meet those challenges we need a strong Legal Defense Fund. Your help is needed now more than ever before!
For more information, e-mail: lovitt@nyfb.org or view the Legal Defense Brochure.
