Growers & Ranchers Legal Support Project
Mission
We strive to provide legal services and education to growers, ranchers, and other agriculturalists across New York State to support their sustainable growth and development as primary contributors to equitable food and agricultural systems in New York.
Vision
We envision thriving beginning and existing farmers in New York State who are unencumbered by legal injustices.
Values
Transparency - We guarantee clarity in our practices, beliefs, policies, and rules.
Equity - We help reduce barriers to opportunities that should be equally accessible to all people.
Justice - We are steadfastly committed to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. For all.
Compassion - Our work is in part centered on genuine care for all people.
Collective Power - We firmly believe that we cannot achieve our vision without building power across racial and class lines. We believe in working both within and outside of current institutions to facilitate the self-empowerment of our state’s historically marginalized people.
Initial Research
As a nascent project dedicated to providing exceptional support and resources, we are starting this project with ample, thorough research into the needs, concerns, and issues of the communities we seek to serve. Equally importantly, we are also learning more about the existing solutions and resources lying within and around these same groups.
Agriculturalists
Know one know the needs of the people better than the people. We are speaking with New York State growers, ranchers, and other agriculturalists* about their most pressing legal needs and experiences.
Community-Based Organizations (CBOs)
CBOs can play a critical role in addressing the needs of marginalized folks. We meeting with these organizations to hear their perspective on the legal needs and desires of our target demographics—New York State agriculturalists.
Legal Service Providers
There are a plethora of entities providing myriad legal services to agriculturalists. We are chatting with several of these providers to learn more about the successes and losses they have experienced in their legal work.
If you fall into any of these three categories, please click the button(s) above to get involved!
*For the purposes of our initial research, we define “agriculturalist” as any person who studies, manages, or otherwise participates in the cultivation of crops and soil and/or the raising of animals for consumption or other uses.