2023 New York Laws › NPC - Not-For-Profit Corporation › Article 14 - Special Not-for-Profit Corporations › 1409 - Agricultural and Horticultural Corporations.

§ 1409. Agricultural and horticultural corporations.
(a) Definition.
An   agricultural   or  horticultural  corporation  or  society  is  a
corporation formed under or by a general or special  law  for  promoting
agriculture, horticulture and the mechanic arts.
(b)  Type of corporation. An agricultural or horticultural corporation
is a non-charitable corporation under this chapter, except that any such
corporation which has received moneys from the state  or  has  acted  as
agent for the state under paragraph (c) of this section, or has acquired
or does acquire real property by condemnation is or becomes a charitable
corporation under this chapter.
(c) Condemnation.
In  case  any  agricultural  or horticultural corporation or any other
agricultural society which  has  received  moneys  from  the  state  for
premiums  paid  for  improving the breed of cattle, sheep and horses, or
has acted as agent for the state in disbursing moneys for  such  purpose
can  not  acquire  real  property needed for its corporate purposes upon
satisfactory terms, it may acquire such real property  by  condemnation.
Any  real  property acquired by condemnation, or otherwise, shall not be
subject to condemnation  by  any  other  private  corporation  except  a
railroad corporation.
(d) Report of corporation receiving aid; disposition of property.
Any   county  agricultural  corporation  receiving  after  May  tenth,
nineteen hundred and twenty, money from any county  shall,  through  its
secretary,  make  annually  to  the  board  of  supervisors  a  detailed
statement with vouchers showing the disbursement during the year of  all
moneys  so  received.  If  such  a  corporation shall cease to exist, or
without satisfactory reason shall fail or neglect  to  hold  its  annual
exhibitions or fairs for a period of two years, the board of supervisors
on  notice  to  the  corporation  may  petition the supreme court of the
judicial district or the  county  court  of  the  county  to  declare  a
forfeiture  to  the  county  of  the  real  and personal property of the
corporation in whole or in part or to confer on the county a  lien  upon
such  property,  whereupon  such court may make a decree determining the
legal or equitable rights of the county in such property subject to  the
rights of creditors of the corporation.
(e) Restrictions on the formation of corporations.
There  shall  be  but  one county corporation in a county, and but one
town corporation in a town, except that  a  second  corporation  may  be
formed  if  it is to be the surviving corporation under a plan of merger
with the existing  corporation,  in  which  event,  the  certificate  of
incorporation  of such second corporation shall have endorsed thereon or
annexed thereto the approval of a justice of the supreme  court  of  the
judicial  district  in  which  the  office  of such corporation is to be
located. Ten days written notice of the application for  such  approval,
accompanied by a copy of the proposed certificate, shall be given to the
attorney  general.  Whenever  a  new  county shall be or shall have been
erected out  of  a  part  of  an  existing  county  in  which  a  county
corporation  existed at the time of the erection of such new county, the
existing corporation may at  its  option  be  continued  as  the  county
corporation   of   both  counties.  The  determination  of  an  existing
corporation to be continued as a county corporation  for  both  counties
shall  be evidenced by a certificate thereof, signed and acknowledged by
a majority of the directors, and filed in the office of the secretary of
state and in the office of the clerk of each of such  counties.  A  town
corporation  may  be formed for several towns, but the formation of such
corporation  shall  not  prevent  the  formation  of  a  separate   town
corporation for any such town.
(f) Annual fairs and premiums.
Every   agricultural   or   horticultural  corporation,  the  American
institute in the city of New York, and the New York  state  agricultural
society,  shall  hold  annual  fairs  and  exhibitions,  and  distribute
premiums. Such corporations  and  societies  shall  regulate  and  award
premiums  on  such  articles,  productions and improvements as they deem
best calculated to promote the agricultural, horticultural, mechanic and
domestic arts of the state, having special reference to the net  profits
which  accrue or are likely to accrue from the mode of raising crops, or
stock, or fabricating the articles exhibited, so that the award be  made
to  the  most  economical  or profitable mode of production. A county or
town corporation, by a two-thirds vote of the members present and voting
at a regular meeting or at a  special  meeting,  duly  called  for  that
purpose,  may  fix the place where the annual fair and exhibition of the
corporation shall be held.
(g) Regulation of shows on exhibition grounds.
Any  agricultural  or  horticultural  corporation,  or  the  executive
committee   of  such  board,  may  regulate  or  prevent  all  kinds  of
theatrical, or circus, exhibitions and shows, huckstering and traffic in
fruits, goods, wares and merchandise, of whatever description, and shall
prevent all kinds of mountebank exhibitions or shows  for  gain  on  the
fair  days  on  such  fair  grounds,  and  also within a distance of two
hundred yards of the fair  grounds  of  the  corporation,  if  it  shall
determine   that   they   obstruct   or  interfere  with  the  free  and
uninterrupted use of the  highways  around  and  approaching  such  fair
grounds.
(h) Capital stock.
An  agricultural  or  horticultural corporation may have capital stock
aggregating not less than five thousand dollars, divided into shares  of
not  less  than ten dollars each, and may issue such certificates at not
less than the par  value  thereof  to  raise  money  for  its  corporate
purposes,   if   provision  therefor  is  made  in  its  certificate  of
incorporation  or  in  a  certificate  filed  pursuant  to  section  803
(Certificate  of  amendment; contents). An agricultural or horticultural
corporation, which has issued or shall hereafter  issue  capital  stock,
entitling  its  shareholders  to  dividends  from  the  profits  of  the
corporation, shall be subject to the business corporation law and not to
the provisions of this chapter in conflict therewith.
(i) Annual report.
On or before December fifteenth in each year, the directors  of  every
agricultural  or  horticultural corporation shall make a verified report
to the commissioner of agriculture and markets of  the  transactions  of
the  corporation  for the preceding twelve months giving full details of
the receipts and expenditures thereof, with a list of  premiums  awarded
and to whom and for what awarded.
(j) Membership in state society.
The  presidents  of the county agricultural corporations, or delegates
to be chosen by such corporations annually, shall be ex officio  members
of the New York state agricultural society.
(k)  Exhibitions  and entertainments on fair grounds to be exempt from
license.
The provisions of any special or local  law  or  municipal  ordinance,
requiring the payment of a license fee for exhibitions or entertainments
or  requiring  that  an  approval  be obtained from any local government
except an approval required to protect the safety, health and well-being
of persons, shall not apply to any exhibition or entertainment  held  on
the  grounds  of  a  town  or  county  corporation  whether  or  not the
corporation  derives  a  pecuniary  profit  from  such   exhibition   or

entertainment  by  the  lease  of  its  grounds for such purpose and the
provisions of any special or local law or municipal ordinance shall  not
be  construed  or  applied  to  unreasonably  prohibit  or  restrict any
agricultural   or   horticultural  corporation  receiving  reimbursement
pursuant to article twenty-four of the agriculture and markets law  from
the  construction,  improvement, renovation, relocation or demolition of
all or any of such agricultural or  horticultural  corporation  grounds,
buildings and facilities.