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For years, American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) has supported court cases that could have an impact on farmers or the ag industry by filing friend-of-the-court briefs. Now AFBF is looking to take a more proactive approach.

AFBF’s board has approved a plan for the national organization to become involved in more legal cases that could impact agriculture. The goal is to identify cases that have the most potential to advance Farm Bureau’s policies on a national level, said Larry Gearhardt, Ohio Farm Bureau’s director of local affairs.

"This is long overdue. Activists have been doing this for years," Gearhardt said. "The tobacco and obesity cases are examples of how activists would look for cases that supported their beliefs. If they lost one, they would learn from their mistakes and try one in another state until they won."

The new program, which is still in development, will have its own separate budget, establish guidelines for determining when to get involved in litigation and set clear objectives to advance AFBF’s policy priorities.

"We want environmental groups and others to know that if they are going to challenge farmers, then AFBF will be there to fight for farmers. They should just expect it because we will show up consistently on cases that could affect farmers’ and ranchers’ ability to continue their farming operations," said Julie Anna Potts, AFBF’s general counsel.

AFBF’s General Counsel Advisory Committee will review cases as they develop and help determine how much AFBF will get involved in them. AFBF will outsource the review and filtering of federal cases that impact the ag industry, and the case tracking information will be available to state Farm Bureaus. Gearhardt said the case tracking will help state Farm Bureaus dealing with an issue or court case find precedents or similarities in other court cases nationwide.

"The program will provide a clearinghouse of information about cases impacting agriculture. It will let all the states know what’s going on," Gearhardt said. "This will help AFBF keep its ear to the ground for a case to arise and be prepared to make it national."

Potts said that the program’s main focus will be regulatory matters that impede farmers’ property rights or ability to manage and operate their farms.

"This legal advocacy program will get AFBF more involved in the third leg of the three-legged stool of policy implementation," Potts said. "What you win in Congress, you have to carry forward through regulations, and what you win in the regulatory phase must sometimes be reinforced in the courts. The investment that AFBF is making, both financially and structurally, in creating this legal advocacy program, will help us identify and get involved in the cases that present the best opportunity for Farm Bureau to advance its policies."