Farmers' Legal Action Group, Inc.

For 38 years, Farmers’ Legal Action Group (FLAG) has stayed true to our mission of providing family farmers and their communities with the legal services, guidance and support they need to weather crises and stay on the land.

In the past year our decades’ long commitment to family farmers and unique expertise was called upon as FLAG helped shape a historical response for farmers who have faced discrimination. 

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FLAG Is a Lifeline for Family Farmers in Crisis

FLAG was established in 1986 in response to the farm credit crisis of the 1980s, when its founding legal aid lawyers helped win a landmark case preventing foreclosures for more than 80,000 family farms. Since then FLAG has delivered services that help family farmers weather crises and stay on the land, which include:

• Outreach and education on laws and programs that help families sustain their farms; 
• A national hotline offering free legal advice for family farmers;
• Impact litigation that helps large numbers of family farmers by defending laws that protect them;
• Legal services FLAG provides to farm advocacy organizations; and 
• Resources and information on crucial disaster assistance programs to many family farmers every year. 

Every day, FLAG is contacted by farmers around the country with a broad range of legal needs. Every one of their requests has a common underlying thread: they have few, if any, options for legal help other than FLAG. FLAG is a critical line of defense – and in many cases the only line of defense – for small and medium-sized farmers who are an essential prerequisite for the transition to a food and agriculture system that is sustainable, equitable, healthy, and just.

FLAG is helping farmers who have experienced discrimination 

This year, a significant program was implemented to help address discrimination of farmer lenders in USDA programs – the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (DFAP). FLAG Guide to DFAP for Farmers. This Program provided financial assistance for farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who experienced discrimination in USDA’s farm lending prior to 2021. FLAG was tapped as the main legal resource for the thousands of farmers seeking to access this program. Since the program’s launch and through its completion we educated and assisted more than 6,000 farmers, partners and technical assistance providers through webinars, concise written guides and direct response through our hotline.

Addressing past discrimination is daunting and the processes to apply for assistance can be complex and confusing. FLAG has been here and will be here for farmers to provide essential support needed for them to get relief. 

FLAG is providing clarity farmers need to access vital relief programs

FLAG’s ability to explain in plain language the complex provisions of government programs through guides and trainings has been crucial to helping thousands of farmers access the disaster and discrimination relief programs and helped farmers understand how they can benefit from them. In the last year FLAG Guides have been accessed over 8,000 times by farmers, advocates and technical providers. 

And we published a key update to one of our most used guides - the Farmers' Guide to Minnesota Lending Law. Our attorneys hosted a series of 8 webinars reaching hundreds of attorneys, farmers and advocates that expanded on the lending law concepts and their practical applications.

• Farmers’ Guide to MN Lending Law 4th Edition 2024 September

Our attorneys have reached thousands of farmers, trainers and advocates providing more than 44 trainings in the last year that delved deep into critical issues that affect farmers.

FLAG is Helping to Build a Better Food System

By providing critical services for family farmers, FLAG is helping to build a food system that is more sustainable, healthy, local, just and humane,

If you care about who grows your food…

If you care about healthy food for you and your family…

If you care about building a sustainable environment…

If you care about fighting climate change and building climate resilience…

If you care about the well-being of our rural communities…

If you care about humane treatment of farm animals…

If you care about stopping agricultural consolidation…

If you care about opportunity and justice for disadvantaged and immigrant farmers…

Support FLAG today!