The Secret Cornell

If you would like an indisputable example of fraud; there is none better than the New York State Agriculture Disclosure Statement for ticking all the boxes.

In the United States, common law generally identifies nine elements needed to establish fraud: (1) a representation of fact; (2) its falsity; (3) its materiality; (4) the representer’s knowledge of its falsity or ignorance of its truth; (5) the representer’s intent that it should be acted upon by the person in the manner reasonably contemplated; (6) the injured party’s ignorance of its falsity; (7) the injured party’s reliance on its truth; (8) the injured party’s right to rely thereon; and (9) the injured party’s consequent and proximate injury.

The New York State Agricultural District Disclosure Form and Notice:

“This disclosure notice is to inform prospective residents that the property they are about to acquire lies partially or wholly within an agricultural district and that farming activities occur within the district. Such farming activities may include, but not limited to, activities that cause noise, dust and odors.”

Let’s examine a few of the activities those “prospective residents” are not fully being informed of:

Satellite Lagoons: “Lagoon” is a euphemism for an open cesspit [frequently a million gallons or more] of feces, urine, antibiotics, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and toxic heavy metal that is sluiced from the floors of CAFO sheds; and is fermented for months before being sprayed on, and injected into the earth. “Satellite” refers to the currently recommended practice of placing them far from the farm headquarters [i.e. close to the neighbors] for convenience of application. These cesspits emit toxic methane and hydrogen sulfide gases at levels that are only permissible in rural communities. The week after you buy your house – a farmer could build one in the field next door.

Agricultural Laws: Prospective buyers are not informed of the legal ramifications of being a “non-farmer” under the state’s agricultural laws.  

“The Agricultural Districts Law authorizes the Commissioner to issue opinions, upon request, concerning the soundness of specific agricultural practices. If the Commissioner determines that a practice is sound, the practice shall not constitute a private nuisance.”

 “Article 25AA of New York State Agriculture and Markets law includes an Right To Farm provision which requires the Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets to resolve disputes about farm practices on farm operations within agriculture districts.”

Simply put: all Farmer v. Non-farmer disputes are adjudicated by, and for the benefit of, farming interests.

Health Hazards: In an incident involving Lansing’s biggest agricultural landowner — The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [Mather v. Willet Dairy] in finding against plaintiffs suffering from the effects of manure off-gassing that included brain damage in one child and the surgical removal of eyelids in an adult commented that agricultural laws: “may be inadequate for ensuring the safety of our environment and for protecting citizens from serious injury. But that is the remedy that Congress has provided and to which we are bound”

And my own experience of being sprayed with Roundup by an agricultural boom sprayer [while mowing my lawn] demonstrates that rural residents have no legal protection – even where there is a law.

Removal of previously Permitted activities – As demonstrated by the recent Lansing, NY Agricultural Zoning; any rural permitted activities [even those Permitted as of Right] can be stripped from rural residents — unilaterally removing the uses that the purchaser originally bought the land for.

The New York State Agriculture Disclosure Statement is usually handed to prospective purchasers at the closing; where its uninformative wording will not cause them to back out at this psychological moment – and leaving them no time for thought or investigation.

My attempts to persuade New York State to create an Ag Disclosure Statement that accurately disclosed the possible hazards of purchasing property in an Agricultural District have all been a complete failure.

When I approached Tompkins County legislators: urging them to supplement the NYS Ag Disclosure with a more purchaser friendly County disclosure statement: they too refused – sating that it was the local Board of Realtors and the County Agriculture and Farm Protection Committee who were the “stakeholders.”

The New York State Agricultural Disclosure Statement is the perfect legal instrument for protecting those who fraudulently profit from the ignorance of others.

More importantly, if you were to dig down through all this misconduct to the underlying fraud — the fraud that is the root cause of every rural policy and act — you would find that it’s not about “Agriculture” at all — it’s about money.

Politicians and Corporate Agribusiness have created a fog of “Agriculture” in rural New York: to hide the manifest injustice that takes place within it. The Agriculture lobby represents the most politically powerful and privileged group in the country — and the rural population is the most unrepresented and marginalized sector of the nation’s poor.

That makes rural people easily disposable. And when you’re disposable: you can’t be the victim of anything — even of fraud.