by Eva Moss, Farm Commons
As farmers, you’re no stranger to challenges whether in the field, at market, in the office, or at home. Farming takes guts, especially when facing complex legal issues. However, the key to legal resiliency often isn’t in knowing more law – it’s in building strong relationships. Because that’s just what the law is – what we agree to do for each other. The law is relationships, and that’s how we see it at Farm Commons.
For example, if a farmer and a business partner or landowner don’t come up with their own agreement, the state will step in with default provisions. However, default state laws aren’t written for garlic, pastured livestock, cut flowers, or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms. So, the key to building legal resiliency for the farm business is in building strong relationships through the core legal areas of business structures, insurance and liability, employment law, land leasing and purchasing, and diversifying your enterprises into agritourism and value-added products. We’ll show you why and how!
Farm Commons is a non-profit organization specializing in legal education for farmers. Our mission is to support farmers in understanding and resolving your farm law business issues within an ecosystem of support. We travel across the country delivering full-day farm law trainings that work through the 6 core areas of farm law listed above, providing your state’s legal specifics. Importantly we do not do this work alone. We co-present the workshop with local farmers in your community, who get trained in our curriculum and share their decision-making process through legal challenges over the course of the day. This is a powerful peer-based learning experience – because who better to share with and learn from than farmers in your community?
On Friday, March 20, from 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at the Henson Robinson Zoo, Farm Commons and The Land Connection are hosting Cultivating Your Legally Resilient Farm, a full-day training where farmers will create personalized farm law action plans for your farm. The workshop will be led by Sarah Vaile, Farm Commons’ Staff Attorney, and farmers Jeff Hake and Katie Funk of Funks Grove Heritage Fruits and Grain. Registration is $25 and includes coffee + lunch.
Join us to cultivate legal resilience for your farm!
