* § 16-y. Marketing of agricultural products. Declaration of policy.
(a) It is hereby declared that the mission of the corporation is to
promote a vigorous and growing state economy. In implementing this
mission, the corporation has undertaken a vigorous campaign to market
the state's assets and by carrying out the provisions of this section,
would further this mission by promoting the development of markets for
agricultural products grown and produced in the state.

(b) It is further declared that the marketing of agricultural
commodities and aquatic products in this state, in excess of reasonable
and normal market demands therefor; disorderly marketing of such
commodities; improper preparation for market and lack of uniform grading
and classification of agricultural commodities and aquatic products;
unfair methods of competition in the marketing of such commodities and
the inability of individual producers to develop new and larger markets
for agricultural commodities and aquatic products, result in an
unreasonable and unnecessary economic waste of the agricultural wealth
of this state. Such conditions and the accompanying waste jeopardize the
future continued production of adequate food supplies for the people of
this and other states. These conditions vitally concern the health,
safety and general welfare of the people of this state.

It is therefore declared the legislative purpose and the policy of
this state:

(i) To enable agricultural producers and aquatic producers of this
state, with the aid of the state, more effectively to correlate the
marketing of their agricultural commodities and aquatic products with
market demands therefor.

(ii) To establish orderly, efficient and equitable marketing of
agricultural commodities and aquatic products.

(iii) To provide for uniform grading and proper preparation of
agricultural commodities and aquatic products for market.

(iv) To provide methods and means for the development of new and
larger markets for agricultural commodities and aquatic products
produced in New York.

(v) To eliminate or reduce the economic waste in the marketing of
agricultural commodities and aquatic products.

(vi) To eliminate unjust impairment of the purchasing power of aquatic
producers and the agricultural producers of this state; and

(vii) To aid agricultural and aquatic producers in maintaining an
income at an adequate and equitable level.

2. Definitions. (a) "Agricultural commodity" means any and all
agricultural, horticultural, vineyard products, corn for grain, oats,
soybeans, barley, wheat, poultry or poultry products, bees, maple sap
and pure maple products produced therefrom, christmas trees, livestock,
including swine, and honey, sold in the state either in their natural
state or as processed by the producer thereof but does not include milk,
timber or timber products, other than christmas trees, all hay, rye and
legumes except for soybeans.

(b) "Aquaculture" means the culture, cultivation and harvest of
aquatic plants and animals.

(c) "Aquatic products" means any food or fiber products obtained
through the practice of aquaculture, including mariculture; or by
harvest from the sea when such products are cultured or landed in this
state. Such products include but are not limited to fish, shellfish,
seaweed or other water based plant life.

(d) "Producer" means any person engaged within this state in the
business of producing, or causing to be produced for any market, any
agricultural commodity or aquatic product.

(e) "Handler" means any person engaged in the operation of packing,
grading, selling, offering for sale or marketing any marketable
agricultural commodities or aquatic products, who as owner, agent or
otherwise ships or causes an agricultural commodity to be shipped.

(f) "Processor" means any person engaged within this state in
processing, or in the operation of receiving, grading, packing, canning,
freezing, dehydrating, fermenting, distilling, extracting, preserving,
grinding, crushing, or in any other way preserving or changing the form
of an agricultural product or aquatic product for the purpose of
marketing such commodity but shall not include a person engaged in
manufacturing from an agricultural commodity or aquatic product another
and different product.

(g) "Distributor" means any person engaged within this state, in
selling, offering for sale, marketing or distributing an agricultural
commodity or aquatic product which he or she has purchased or acquired
from a producer or other person or which he or she is marketing on
behalf of a producer or other person, whether as owner, agent, employee,
broker or otherwise, but shall not include a retailer, except such
retailer who purchases or acquires from, or handles on behalf of any
producer or other person, an agricultural commodity or aquatic product
subject to regulation by the marketing agreement or order covering such
commodity.

(h) "President" means the president of the corporation.

(i) "Marketing agreement" means an agreement entered into, with the
approval of the president, by producers with distributors, processors
and handlers regulating the preparation, sale and handling of
agricultural commodities or aquatic products.

(j) "Marketing order" means an order issued by the president pursuant
to this section, prescribing rules and regulations governing the
marketing for processing, the distributing, the sale of, or the handling
in any manner of any agricultural commodity or aquatic product sold in
this state during any specified period or periods.

(k) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of the New York state
department of agriculture and markets.

(l) "Department" means the New York state department of agriculture
and markets.

3. Powers and duties of the president. (a) In order to effectuate the
declared policy of this section, the president, in consultation with the
commissioner, may, after due notice and opportunity for hearing, approve
marketing agreements, which marketing agreements shall thereupon be
binding upon the signatories thereto exclusively.

(b) The president, in consultation with the commissioner and the
producers, may make and issue marketing orders, after due notice and
opportunity for hearing, subject to:

(i) approval of not less than sixty-six and two-thirds per centum of
the producers participating in a referendum in the area affected, or

(ii) approval of not less than sixty-five per centum of the producers
participating in a referendum vote, in the area affected, and having
marketed not less than fifty-one per centum of the total quantity of the
commodity which was marketed in the next preceding, ordinary marketing
season by all producers that voted in the referendum, or

(iii) approval of not less than fifty-one per centum of the producers
participating in a referendum vote, in the area affected, and having
marketed not less than sixty-five per centum of the total quantity of
the commodity which was marketed in the next preceding, ordinary
marketing season by all producers that voted in the referendum. The
president may, and upon written petition duly signed by twenty-five per
centum of the producers in the area amend or terminate such order after
due notice and opportunity for hearing, but subject to the approval of
not less than fifty per centum of such producers participating in a
referendum vote.

(c) The president, consulting with and seeking the advice and consent
of the advisory board shall administer and enforce any marketing order,
while it is in effect, to:

(i) Encourage and maintain stable prices received by producers for
such agricultural commodity and aquatic product at a level which is
consistent with the provisions and aims of this act.

(ii) Prevent the unreasonable or unnecessary waste of land or water
based wealth.

(iii) Protect the interests of consumers of such commodity, by
exercising the powers of this section to such extent as is necessary to
effectuate the purposes of this act.

(iv) Provide consultation to the commissioner who shall budget for the
administration and operating costs and expenses, seeking the advice and
consent of the advisory board, including advertising and sales promotion
when required in any marketing agreement or order executed in this
section and to provide for the collection and retention of such
necessary fees to defray such costs and expenses, in no case to exceed
five percent of the gross dollar volume of sales or dollar volume of
purchases or amounts handled, to be collected from each person engaged
in the production, processing, distributing or the handling of any
marketable agricultural commodity and aquatic product produced or landed
in this state and directly affected by any marketing order issued
pursuant to this section for such commodity.

(v) Confer and cooperate with the legally constituted authorities of
other states and the United States.

(d) Any marketing agreement or order issued by the president pursuant
to this section, in consultation with the commissioner, may contain any
or all of the following:

(i) Provisions for determining the existence and extent of the surplus
of any agricultural commodity, or of any grade, size or quality thereof,
and providing for the regulation and disposition of such surplus.

(ii) Provisions for limiting the total quantity of any agricultural
product, or of any grade or grades, size or sizes, or quality or
portions or combinations thereof, which may be marketed during any
specified period or periods. Such total quantity of any such commodity
so regulated shall not be less than the quantity which the president
shall find is reasonably necessary to supply the market demand of
consumers for such commodity.

(iii) Provisions regulating to the period, or periods, during which
any agricultural commodity, or any grade or grades, size or sizes or
quality or portions or combinations of such commodity, may be marketed.

(iv) Provisions for the establishment of uniform grading, standards,
and inspection of any agricultural commodity delivered by producers or
other persons to handlers, processors, distributors or others engaging
in the handling thereof, and for the establishment of grading or
standards of quality, condition, size, maturity or pack for any
agricultural commodity, and the inspection and grading of such commodity
in accordance with such grading or standards so established; and for
provisions that no producer, handler, processor or distributor of any
agricultural commodity for which grading or standards are so established
may, except as otherwise provided in such marketing agreement or order,
sell, offer for sale, process, distribute or otherwise handle any such
commodity whether produced within or without this state, not meeting and
complying with such established grading or standards. For the purposes
of this section, the federal-state inspection service shall perform all
inspections made necessary by such provisions.

(v) Provisions for the establishment of research programs designed to
benefit a specified commodity or New York agriculture in general.

(vi) Provisions for the president to retain money collected under any
marketing order issued pursuant to this section to defray the costs and
expenses in the administration thereof.

(vii) Such other provisions as may be necessary to effectuate the
declared policies of this section.

(viii) Provisions to establish marketing promotion and research
programs for aquatic products which may include subparagraphs (i)
through (vii) of this paragraph.

(e) The president, seeking the advice and the consent of the advisory
board, may temporarily suspend the operation of an effective marketing
order for a continuing period of not longer than one growing and
marketing season, if the purposes of this section are deemed unnecessary
during such season.

(f) In carrying out the purposes of this section, the president, in
consultation with the commissioner and consulting with and seeking the
advice and consent of the advisory board, shall take into consideration
any and all facts available to him or her with respect to the following
economic factors:

(i) The quantity of such agricultural commodity available for
distribution.

(ii) The quantity of such agricultural commodity normally required by
consumers.

(iii) The cost of producing such agricultural commodity.

(iv) The purchasing power of consumers.

(v) The level of prices of commodities, services and sections which
the farmers commonly buy.

(vi) The level of prices of other commodities which compete with or
are utilized as substitutes for such agricultural commodity.

(g) The execution of such marketing agreements shall in no manner
affect the issuance, administration or enforcement of any marketing
order provided for in this section. The president, in consultation with
the commissioner, may issue such marketing order without executing a
marketing agreement or may execute a marketing agreement without issuing
a marketing order covering the same commodity. The president, in his or
her discretion, in consultation with the commissioner may hold a
concurrent hearing upon a proposed marketing agreement and a proposed
marketing order in the manner provided for giving due notice and
opportunity for hearing for a marketing order as provided in this
section.

(h) Prior to the issuance, amendment or termination of any marketing
order, the president may require the applicants for such issuance,
amendment or termination to deposit with him or her such amount as he or
she may deem necessary to defray the expenses of preparing and making
effective amending or terminating a marketing order. Such funds shall be
received, deposited and disbursed by the president in the same manner as
other fees received by him or her under this section and, in the event
the application for adoption, amendment or termination of a marketing
order is approved in a referendum, the president shall reimburse any
such applicant in the amount of any such deposit from any unexpended
monies collected under the marketing order affected by such referendum.

(i) Any moneys collected by the president pursuant to this section
shall not be deemed state or corporation funds and shall be deposited in
a bank or other depository of the corporation, approved by the
president, allocated to each marketing order under which they are
collected, and shall be disbursed by the president only for the
necessary expenses incurred by the president with respect to each such
separate marketing order, all in accordance with the rules and
regulations of the president. All such expenditures shall be subject to
audits by the state comptroller. Any moneys remaining in such fund
allocable to any particular commodity affected by a marketing order may,
in the discretion of the president, be refunded at the close of any
marketing season upon a pro-rata basis to all persons from whom
assessments therefor were collected or, whenever the president finds
that such moneys may be necessary to defray the cost of operating such
marketing order in a succeeding marketing season, he or she may carry
over all or any portion of such moneys into the next such succeeding
season. Upon the termination by the president of any marketing order,
all moneys remaining and not required by the president to defray the
expenses of operating such marketing order, shall be refunded by the
president upon a pro-rata basis to all persons from whom assessments
therefor were collected; provided, however, that if the president finds
that the amounts so refundable are so small as to make impracticable the
computation and refunding of such refunds, the president may use such
moneys to defray the expenses incurred by him or her in the formulation,
issuance, administration or enforcement of any subsequent marketing
order for such commodity.

(j) Advisory board. (i) Any marketing order issued pursuant to this
section shall provide for the establishment of an advisory board, to
consist of not less than five members nor more than nine members, to
advise the president in the administration of such marketing order in
accordance with its terms and provisions. The president shall administer
and enforce any such order while it is in effect, consulting with the
advisory board and seeking its advice and consent. The members of said
board shall be appointed by the commissioner from nominations received
from the commodity group for which the marketing order is established.
Nominating procedure, qualification, representation and size of the
advisory board shall be prescribed in each marketing order for which
such board is appointed. Each advisory board shall be composed of such
producers and handlers or processors as are directly affected by the
marketing order in such proportion of representation as the order shall
prescribe. The commissioner may appoint one person who is neither a
producer, processor or other handler to represent the department of
agriculture and markets, the corporation, or the public generally.

(ii) No member of an advisory board shall receive a salary, but each
shall be entitled to his or her actual expenses incurred while engaged
in performing his or her duties herein authorized.

(iii) The duties and responsibilities of each advisory board shall be
prescribed by the president, in consultation with the commissioner, and
he or she shall specifically delegate to the advisory board, by
inclusion in the marketing order, the following duties and
responsibilities:

(A) The recommendation to the president of administrative rules and
regulations relating to the marketing order.

(B) Recommending to the president such amendments to the marketing
order as deemed advisable.

(C) The preparation and submission to the commissioner, in
consultation with the president, of the estimated budget required for
the proper operation of the marketing order.

(D) Recommending to the president methods for assessing members of the
industry and methods for collecting the necessary funds.

(E) Assisting the president in the collection and assembling of
information and data necessary to the proper administration of the
order.

(F) The performance of such other duties in connection with the
marketing order as the president shall designate.

4. Rules and regulations; enforcement. The president, with the advice
and consent of the advisory board, may make and promulgate such rules
and regulations as may be necessary to effectuate the provisions and
intent of this section and to enforce the provision of any marketing
agreement or order, all of which shall have the force and effect of law.

The president, in consultation with the commissioner may institute
such action at law or in equity as may appear necessary to enforce
compliance with any provision of this section, or any rule or
regulation, marketing agreement or order, committed to his or her
administration, and in addition may apply for relief by injunction if
necessary to protect the public interest without being compelled to
allege or prove that an adequate remedy at law does not exist. Such
application may be made to the supreme court in any district or county
as provided in the civil practice law and rules, or to the supreme court
in the third judicial district.

5. Cooperation by the department. The president of the corporation may
request and receive, within ninety days of such request, from the
department such assistance, information and cooperation as may be
necessary for the corporation to provide services with respect to the
administration of the procedures set forth for the issuance, termination
or amendment of any agricultural, commodities or aquatic order and/or
the administration of any such order. The corporation shall retain an
amount equal to the expenses incurred by the corporation in performing
its duties pursuant to this section and reimburse the department an
amount equal to the expenses incurred by the department in supplying
such services, subsequent to submission and audit of a voucher therefor.
Such reimbursement shall not exceed the total amount of funds collected
by the corporation pursuant to this section less the reasonable expenses
incurred by the corporation in performing its duties pursuant to this
section.

6. Indemnification. The state shall defend, indemnify and hold
harmless the corporation, its directors, officers, and employees, from
and against any and all claims, demands, causes of action, damages,
costs and expenses whatsoever arising directly or indirectly from, or
relating to, the administration of any agricultural, commodities or
aquatic promotion order issued or administered pursuant to this section.
In connection with the foregoing, the corporation shall give the state
(a) prompt written notice of any action, claim or threat of suit, (b)
the opportunity to take over, settle or defend such action, claim or
suit at the state's sole expense, and (c) assistance in the defense of
any such action at the expense of the state.

7. Contractual provisions. The corporation may contract for services
with respect to the implementation of this section in accordance with
the corporation's policies, procedures and guidelines. Notwithstanding
section 2879 of the public authorities law or any other law to the
contrary, any such contract may be procured by the corporation on a
sole-source basis, and shall not be subject to competitive bid or
competitive request for proposal requirements.

* NB Repealed July 31, 2026