Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund
Protecting, defending, and broadening the rights and viability of independent farmers, artisanal food producers, and their consumers.
Who's Your Farmer?
Our Mission: Protecting, defending, and broadening the rights and viability of independent farmers, artisanal food producers, and their consumers.
Subscribe to our newsletter:
The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) was launched on Independence Day, July 4, 2007. FTCLDF is a non-profit organization recognized under the Internal Revenue Code as a Section 501(c)(4) organization [EIN 20-8605130]. A (c)(4) organization is classified as a “social welfare” organization. Click here to view the IRS designation letter.
The FTCLDF protects the rights of farmers and consumers to engage in direct commerce; it protects the rights of farmers to sell the products of the farm and the rights of consumers to access the foods of their choice from the source of their choice. FTCLDF is a true grassroots organization and receives no government funding and little or no corporate funding.
Its main sources of revenue are membership fees, individual donations and grants for public interest litigation from various organizations.
MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES AND FEES
Annual memberships are $125 for farmers/ranchers and artisan food producers, $75 for homesteaders, $50 for consumers; and for affiliates such as buyers clubs and cooperatives, the annual fee is $250 for the first fifty members and $5 for each additional member.
For those who have a religious or philosophical objection to becoming members in an organization that engages in litigation, FTCLDF offers renewable Non-Member Consulting Agreements at the same rates. All of the benefits of membership are available except the possibility of representation.
Membership costs and benefits are very reasonable especially when compared to the typical cost of a single phone call with an attorney. Should an incident arise that results in representation, those who have been FTCLDF members for less than six months may incur an additional charge equal to their annual fee.
Benefits of MEMBERSHIP
- — unlimited consultation with attorneys on matters within the FTCLDF mission statement;
- — contractual documents, e.g., herdshare contracts, buyers club agreements, etc.;
- — access to information clearinghouse for those working on state legislation and local ordinances;
- — consultation with attorneys on matters related to food buyers club setup and operations;
- — access to presentations by Charlotte Smith on matters related to marketing farm and artisan foods;
- — toll-free emergency hotline to speak with an attorney if there is a surprise visit or inspection from a government agency;
- — the possibility of legal representation on matters that are within FTCLDF’s mission statement at no additional cost.
We've Got Your Farmer's Back!
FTCLDF levels the playing field, making it more difficult for the government to win wars of attrition that drag farmers through administrative and judicial hearings; membership enables members to spend their resources on farming instead of lawyers. A primary aim at the state level is to create a food system in which people can obtain the food of their choice from the source of their choice.
In addition to litigation, FTCLDF’s work includes advising on state legislation, working at the administrative level on matters before federal and state governments, and day-to-day member services. Member services have included work on the following: zoning, complaints from neighbor(s), on-farm poultry processing, disputes with farmers market managers, and slaughterhouse regulations.
Emergency member services are available 24/7 through a paging system. This benefit has been a legal lifeline to farmers, buying clubs and even consumers at the middle of a government enforcement action.
