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On the defensive

Rep. Wayne Meyer, R-Rathdrum, probably isn’t going to go ahead this year with his bill to set up a state-sanctioned legal defense fund for farmers.

“The ag community’s really not that enthusiastic about going forward, so at this time I’m just going to have it drafted and circulate it,” Meyer said. “I’m planting the seed.”

Meyer’s concept is that farmers across the state would pay into the fund through a required assessment, similar to the way a state indemnity fund for farmers works. “It wouldn’t be tax money,” he said.

Meyer is a grass seed farmer on the Rathdrum Prairie, where farmers have been sued over the smoke they spread when burning their fields each summer.

* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "Eye On Boise." Read all stories from this blog