Cultivating Farm Law Leaders

Project Overview

ENC22-210
Project Type: Professional Development Program
Funds awarded in 2022: $72,072.00
Projected End Date: 09/30/2024
Host Institution Award ID: H009987605
Grant Recipient: Farm Commons
Region: North Central
State: Minnesota
Project Coordinator:
Rachel Armstrong
Farm Commons

Commodities

Not commodity specific

Practices

  • Farm Business Management: labor/employment, land access, risk management, value added, legal resilience
  • Sustainable Communities: leadership development, quality of life

    Abstract:

    This project resulted in the development and support of 7 Farm Law Leaders who delivered 8 farm law workshops on legal issues of importance to sustainable and direct to consumer farmers. As a result, 221 farmers have more stable businesses and improved quality of life. We achieved these outcomes by hosting the Legal Ecosystem Fellowship (previously called the Farm Law Leadership Group) a train-the-trainer program designed to foster the ability of respected educators to lead farm law workshops in local communities. The training curriculum emphasizes risk-reducing action steps and accurate, clear legal explanations. The program also trains Fellows to use peer-to-peer training techniques and supports farmers as co-contributors to the leadership program and resulting workshop template resources.

    This program created a next-step leadership process for agriculture professionals who have been through our SARE-funded Guiding Resilience program (a 15-hour training commitment to gain a broad, accurate knowledge base, mainly as it affects diversified and direct-to-consumer farmers). These folks asked us for this program because they wanted to build on their knowledge by being able to deliver presentations. With a vast unmet need for more presentations on farm law matters, this was a perfect opportunity. The Fellowship created permanent leaders in agricultural law education while offering a template we are already replicating and in other regions of the country.

    Project objectives:

    The primary output of this program is the following:

    1. 8 Farm Law Leadership Group trainees who are prepared to deliver up to 4 specific farm law trainings in their communities/states. Those workshops are:
      1. Farm Business Structure Basics
      2. Farm Employment Law Basics
      3. Injury Liability and Insurance Basics
      4. Farmland Leasing Basics
    2. At least 8 farm law workshops delivered to an average of 28 farmers per program, for a total of 221 direct to consumer and sustainable farmers reached with essential information with a track record of reducing risk in the near term.

    We also created the Farm Law Leadership training:

    1. A 5-module curriculum for the Farm Law Leadership Group which will focus on a) building common purpose, b) understanding the value, risks, and opportunities in legal education c) providing folks with all the training necessary to confidently deliver the 4 workshops above, and d) an understanding of how diverse audiences come to legal education and how to meet the needs of underserved audiences.
    2. The training will also provide detailed information on why using peer-to-peer techniques in farm law education is essential, along with detailed information on when and how to incorporate these techniques.

    To support the above, we implemented online infrastructure to support the training package above including the powerpoint decks, the scripts, the activity sheets, the step-by-step instructions for preparing for the presentation, and other supplementary resources. Fellows also have a process for getting review/approval of each presentation. We also created a process to annually update the curriculum, and keep distributing it to Fellows through an annual licensing process. 

    Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.