145 Main St.
Lyons, NE 68038
Phone: 402-687-2100
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The Center for Rural Affairs (formerly the Small Farm Advocacy Project) was founded to investigate government policies that discriminate against family-size farms or provide competitive advantages to farms that are larger than family size. Its goals, therefore, are "to expose and change laws and policies that favor large farms."
To that end, the center employs one full- and one part-time attorney. They are assisted by one or two student interns each year. Litigation, however, comprises only about 5 percent of its activities. When the center litigates, it prefers to participate in cases involving the Farmers Home Administration (FHA) and corporate farming bans. It has participated as amicus in state and federal courts in cases challenging Nebraska's state constitutional amendment banning farmland ownership by corporations, and the FHA's failure to implement loan deferral policies.
