Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund was founded on July 4, 2007 to protect Food Freedom. In the beginning, we defined Food Freedom as the rights of farmers and consumers to engage in direct commerce with each other without interference.
Today, FTCLDF works to protect, defend, and broaden the rights and viability of independent farms and ranches, artisanal food producers, and their consumers.
FTCLDF has grown in numbers, and as we have grown, we’ve been able to expand our member services. Our regular work includes both direct legal services and policy work.
- We provide daily legal consultations to numerous members and maintain our 24-hour emergency hotline.
- We work to change policy to remove the unnecessary barriers imposed on independent farmers, ranchers, and food producers wanting to sell directly to consumers
- We reach out to members and supporters with state and federal Action Alerts.
- We engage in public interest litigation.
- We develop educational materials and other resources.
- We continually work to educate both consumers and policy makers about the importance of a decentralized food system that allows local farms and producers to feed their communities without burdensome regulations.
- We help members with cottage food questions, dairy concerns, farm and ranch business questions, animals shares.
- We work to make localized meat and poultry processing less burdensome for producers.
- We work on issues like zoning laws and local ordinances that make farming and homesteading difficult.
How to Get the Most from Member Resources
As our members know, we have expanded our members’ only resources, and encourage you to log in and check out all of the materials there, like webinars, podcasts, and primers.
If you as a member need legal consultation or other assistance, we encourage you to login and submit a contact form on our Contact Us page. Using this form helps us to keep your inquiries organized, and makes sure we get you to the right staff person.
If your matter is not an emergency and you prefer to telephone, please call our main number at (703) 208-FARM (3276) during business hours.
Of course, if there is a true emergency in the evening or weekend, such as an unexpected visit from an inspector or a farm raid, we maintain our 24-hour hotline at (800) 867-5891.
We do this work while keeping membership dues low, and in fact, have not raised membership dues for many years! To accomplish this goal, we have relied on additional funds from our generous food freedom loving donors and supporters. Any amount helps.
Please consider donating a recurring amount to ensure your continued support. We also encourage you to share this email with your customers, friends and contacts. We are very grateful to all our members and supporters.
Happy 17th Birthday, FTCLDF! We’ve Got Your Farmer’s Back!