The United States Supreme Court tips balance between CA farm workers’ rights to organize and private property.
On June 23rd, the United States Supreme Court shifted the balance of power between those organizing farm workers and those asserting private property rights. The case stems from a conflict involving the United Farm Workers (UFW) and two California ag operations – Cedar Point Nursery and Fowler Packing Company. UFW organizers came onto the property […]
Northwestern states adopt emergency rules to protect workers from heat-related injuries
Heat is no joke for those who work outside, and this summer’s heat wave has made it not just uncomfortable but downright dangerous. As estimated 119 people in Oregon and 87 people in Washington have died from heat-related causes during the extreme heat already. Farmworkers are some of the most affected workers, being outside in […]
Colorado passes Farmworker Bill of Rights
At the end of June, Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis, signed into law Senate Bill 87, knows as the Farmworker Bill of Rights. In a country where around 83% of farmworkers are Latino, 50% are undocumented and 10% are immigrants working with H-2A temporary visas, this Bill of Rights is not just about treating farmworkers better, […]
Backyard Farm pays out $337,000 of back wages
Can you imagine if you suddenly had to come up with $337,000 to pay back wages and fines? This is what one farm in Maine is facing. Although we aren’t privy to the details of what the farm knew about their legal obligations and when they knew it, we do know the United States Department […]
BIPOC farmers loan forgiveness program sits stalled in litigation
In March, Congress unveiled its American Rescue Plan Act, and along with many COVID-related relief programs was a promise to help redress America’s sordid history of discrimination, exploitation and slavery. This promise came in the form of the USDA’s $4 billion program to forgive outstanding loans to socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. Since then, producers […]
Gleaning an Understanding of Employment Law and Food Security
With the growing season underway and food insecurity still high, many organizations and farms are looking at gleaning opportunities this summer. We wrote about some of the legal complications of volunteer labor in a previous newsletter article and just having “returned” (not really, everything’s still online!) from the International Gleaning Symposium, we wanted to spend […]
The Cost of Wildfires… and Insurance… to California Farmers
Farmers in California are having a hard time getting fire insurance for their farm structures and equipment. Insurance companies are dropping coverage on existing farm customers and choosing not to insure new operations. Even where farmers can get insurance, it is double or triple the cost of what it previously was. About 500 farms in […]
Reckoning with Discrimination on the Farm through Overhauling Overtime Laws
On May 11th, Washington state got a new overtime law. It followed a windy, twisty path to the governor’s desk. The story started with a court case about dairy workers and overtime. Then the narrative transitioned from the judicial arena to the legislative one, as the Farm Bureau sponsored a bill to limit back wages […]
Food Freedom Unleashed in Montana
On April 30th, Montana’s governor signed a bill into law that makes Montana one of the easiest states in which to sell a wide range of direct-to-consumer local food products produced in a home kitchen. This can be good news in the era of COVID, when we’re seeing traditional food service work shut down just […]
CFAP 2 is back!
The Coronavirus Food Assistance Program provides direct payments to farmers who have been affected by the pandemic. It was mainly geared to commodity-based operations but last fall its new and improved version was unveiled and its new form was a better fit for small, diversified operations. That ended in December but alas, it is now […]
Improving soil health and the landlord-tenant relationship
It seems to be common knowledge now that soil health is a key part of the climate change solution. But, even if ever farmer who owns their farmland adopts all the best cover cropping and no till farming methods out there, that only takes care of 60% of the farmland in the United States. The […]
Comments needed on climate-smart agriculture
Way back in January, President Biden issued the executive order on “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.” Included in this order was a directive to USDA to collect stakeholder input for the purpose of creating a climate-smart agriculture and forestry plan. USDA is dutifully following through and is now asking for your help. […]
Washington state is on the cusp of mandating overtime pay for farmworkers
Washington state is just days away from having a historic law on its books. It’s already passed the Senate and the House, and is on its way to the governor’s desk for signing, which is very likely to happen, rumor has it. What’s this historic new law? Farmworker overtime pay. If it passes, the law […]
With the PPP deadline pushed out ’til May, there’s more time to help your farm business!
The deadline for submitting your PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loan application was supposed to be March 31. But, on the heels of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Act of 2021, the House passed the PPP Extension Act of 2021 on March 16th and it is expected to also pass in the Senate. COVID relief is […]
Gleaning can feed your community, and it’s even legal!
It feels like we’re back to the early days of the Sprout, last spring, when all of our articles were about COVID this and coronavirus that…Well, let’s talk about something else, shall we? How about gleaning! What? What the heck is that? According to the Slow Movement website, gleaning is “the collection of crops either […]
The ARP’s new Child Tax Credit spells relief for American farm families
The American Rescue Plan of 2021 has another major surprise squeezed into its 242 pages of text. Not only does the new COVID relief package take a big step to lift farmers of color out of economic despair, it takes another big step to lift children out of the vicious cycle of poverty – four […]
The American Rescue Plan unveils revolutionary relief for farmers of color
The new round of COVID relief that emerged this month out of Washington includes a lot of the usual stuff (“usual” since spring of 2020, that is, when the whole world seemed to implode after the coronavirus ran rampant around the globe). By now we’re used to the run-of-the-mill offerings of stimulus checks, small business […]
Welcome to the new Farm Commons!
A stronger, better future for everyone with a stake in agricultural law is here! With Farm Commons, the entire agricultural community — farmers, ranchers, agricultural professionals, and legal professionals — can convene over in-depth guides and sample documents, interactive online workshops, and a community forum where we can pose questions and get feedback. Our new […]
The executive order on climate change: agriculture is a big player, but what does this mean for your farm?
On January 27th, the Biden Administration issued Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. Part I starts out, United States international engagement to address climate change — which has become a climate crisis — is more necessary and urgent than ever. The scientific community has made clear that the scale and speed of necessary action is greater […]
Can you require workers on your farm to be vaccinated? Sure, but is it a good idea?
If you are a farm business owner, you may very well be wondering whether you should encourage vaccination of your workers, or even if it’s legal to require it as a condition of the job. In December 2020, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued updated guidance on this very matter (see Section K. Vaccines), and as a very helpful NPR article on […]
Using herbs from your farm to make tinctures and teas? Make sure you’re not selling an “unapproved drug”!
Using herbs grown on your farm to make value-added products like tinctures and teas is an exciting venture that many farmers are taking on. There’s a growing market for it, especially as people the whole world over look for ways to protect themselves from the dreaded COVID-19 virus. But, tincture and tea makers beware: as […]
Get in the Zone! Tennessee lawsuit illustrates the harsh reality of zoning laws for farms
Here at Farm Commons we talk about zoning a lot. This is because zoning can cause a lot of headache and heartache on the farm. A decision out of the Tennessee courts in early February – Jefferson Cty. v. Wilmoth Family Properties, LLC, No. E201902283COAR3CV, 2021 WL 321219 (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 1, 2021) – illustrates this quite […]
PPP forgivable loans are back- Producers may be eligible for another round!
The Paycheck Protection Program, or “PPP,” was a lifeline for small businesses across the country in 2020 including many farm and ranch operations. Well, it is back in a new and improved form for 2021, and it will offer a valuable opportunity for farms and ranches that continued to suffer a decline in revenue later […]
2021 Brings More Relief Opportunities for Agricultural Producers
One of 2020’s bright spots (yes there were a few) came as the year drew to a much awaited close. On December 27th, the president signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 into law. This law covers a lot of ground, but its primary emphasis is to bring another round of financial relief for a nation […]
Launching March 1st: The Brand New Farm Commons!
A long time ago, I walked into the kitchen of my childhood home and announced to my mom, “I’m going to be a farmer when I grow up!” She quickly shot back, “Oh no you aren’t!” I didn’t realize it at the time, but she was speaking of things kept hidden from her children: the […]
Exciting News About Our Future Coming in January
Hello farmers, ranchers, and our agricultural community as a whole! It’s almost 2021 and here at Farm Commons, we are especially excited because the new year is bringing terrific new developments! Our daily focus is to better serve the farming community through legal resilience, and the next evolution of Farm Commons takes a huge step in that […]
Crop Insurance as a Tool for Carbon Sequestration – What?!
Crop insurance has been an important part of farming for the last half-century or longer, and is becoming more and more important as farming becomes an increasingly risky endeavor. The basic gist is that you sign up and pay premiums (like you would with car or health insurance) and in exchange, if your crops are […]
The Biden-Harris Plan to Build Back Better in Rural America – It’s a Long One! But Full of Promise.
Here at Farm Commons, our job is to tell you what the law is. Your job is to decide what it should be – and we point you to experts like the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) to facilitate that conversation. We do keep tabs on what’s happening in the farm law arena that could affect farm […]
CFAP 2 – Get it Before it’s Gone!
Just a little reminder…The CFAP 2 (short for Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, Version 2.0) is coming to a close soon so get your application in before the December 11th deadline. As we mentioned in an earlier edition, CFAP 2 is far more promising for smaller, direct-to-consumer farmers than its earlier version was. The idea of CFAP […]
For the First Time Ever, a Court has Decided that WA Farmworkers Must be Paid Overtime
On November 5th, the Washington Supreme Court declared that farm employers in Washington state must pay employees overtime for all hours worked over 40 in the week. This is a landmark decision because it is the first time a court has ever determined that denying farmworkers the same overtime pay (most) everyone else receives is illegal. Washington […]
Election Day…Off?
Back in 1845 when many in our country farmed for a living, a law went into effect making Election Day “the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.” As this Counter article states, Tuesday was selected as the day so that farmers could go to church on Sunday and still have a whole day or two […]
Racial justice through education on wills and trusts
We’ve written in a previous edition about the phenomenon of “heirs property” and how this has played a huge role in depriving Black Americans of their farmland. To recap, heirs property is property that is owned by multiple people who received the land after the owner died without a will. When many people own land, […]
Paycheck Protection Program makes forgiveness easier, but of course it can’t be all good news….
The Small Business Administration announced in mid-October that it has just released a new and improved loan forgiveness application for the Paycheck Protection Program, otherwise known as the PPP. This is a win for businesses that borrowed $50,000 or less. (Note, there are other eligibility requirements such as retaining all of your employees and not […]
California’s Healthy Soils Program – empowering farmers to be part of the climate change solution.
Many farmers want to do the right thing for our climate but when margins are already so tight, it’s difficult to make happen. Our current economic system doesn’t reward farmers – or most businesses – for socially and environmentally responsible practices. California, a leader on innovative climate change solutions, has had a “cap and trade” program […]
Ash and adulteration…Should we be worried?
The wildfires that ripped through the West Coast this year left some of the most high-value crops in the area severely damaged or destroyed. The Glass Fire impacted 23 wineries in California’s famous wine region, Napa Valley, and in Oregon, now known as a big cannabis-producing region, 17 percent of grow sites were destroyed in […]
Finding safety solutions in cooperative businesses
Everywhere in the news these days the same story keeps emerging: Farmers and farmworkers don’t have adequate protection from COVID-19 and from the hazardous air billowing out from this year’s historic wildfires. All of us (farmers, farm workers, and eaters) are dependent on each other for our health and safety. How do we create safety for everyone? […]
Coronavirus Food Assistance Program 2.0
The Coronavirus Food Assistance Program or “CFAP” for short, was mostly a big bummer for diversified, direct to consumer farms. It promised billions of dollars for farmers suffering from COVID-19 related financial losses, but in reality, for farms that receive better prices in higher value and direct to consumer markets, it wasn’t worth the time […]
Whole Farm Revenue Protection insurance just got easier!
What do you do if a hailstorm rips through your farm and destroys your crops? You may think you’re covered, since you have a farm liability insurance policy. But, unfortunately, that is a misconception. Typical farm liability insurance covers farm structures, farm equipment and even farm products in the freezer, but not crops in the […]
Climate change is here… So now what?
On September 8, a wildfire started on the north edge of Ashland, Oregon, a storybook-like town nestled in the base of Mount Ashland and surrounded by forests, farmland, rivers and streams. The fire ignited in an unusual windstorm that rushed in from the east, combined with extremely low humidity and an unknown ignition source, and […]
Sign up to get help planning for health insurance through the marketplace
Medical debt is one of the biggest reasons people declare bankruptcy. Having health insurance is supposed to remedy this with funds to cover medical bills. However, farmers don’t tend to have quality health insurance unless it’s provided through an off-farm job. Farmers suffering from lower profitability or who have lost an off-farm job with benefits […]
The Sprout || Wildfires, hurricanes, derechos, oh my!
Miraculously, they survived, though many of her neighbors weren’t that lucky. Girl on a Hill and Castle Rock Farm were just several of the farms that had their entire operations wiped out. As of Sunday evening, the LNU Lightning Complex Fires have burned more than 341,000 acres in Sonoma, Napa and Lake counties, impacting agriculture communities known […]
The Sprout || Tax incentives are great but do they miss the mark on racial equity?
According to the National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC), access to land is the number one cited challenge for beginning farmers. In response to that, we are starting to see programs that incentivize getting farmland into the hands of beginning farmers. As Civil Eats reports, more and more states are using tax breaks as a solution. The idea […]
The Sprout || Mandatory farm COVID testing stirs controversy.
COVID-19 is breaking out on farms across the nation. Sure, the CDC has creating guidance for COVID prevention in the agricultural industry, but that is exactly what it is – mere guidance aka not mandatory. In the absence of strong federal leadership in this arena, some states are stepping up to the plate with their own mandatory […]
The Sprout || Hazard Pay – a good idea but what about farmers?
As Congress sits deadlocked, unable to agree on additional COVID relief measures, several states are taking their own initiative to support their beleaguered workers. Both Pennsylvania and Vermont unveiled programs in the last month to do something the HEROES Act wanted to do but couldn’t pass – provide hazard pay to essential workers on the front […]
The Sprout || Battle Royale in the country.
Rural America – so bucolic, so peaceful, those amber waves of grain blowing gently in the wind… Or not. These days the American countryside is full of high drama and high stakes. Neighbors pitted against neighbors over the stink of confined animal feeding operations. Organic crops wilting to their death from dicamba drifting over from […]
The Sprout: News and Solutions in Farm Law
COVID Relief News PPP extended to August 8th. Finally, we have an answer on what the government will do with all that money that’s left in the PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) pot. The PPP application period was set to expire on June 30 but at the 11th hour the Senate swooped in to pass a bill […]
The Sprout 5th edition
COVID-Related Farm Law News Remaining funding options. Well, the bad news is that the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, is now closed for business – PPP stopped taking applications on June 30th. However, the good news is that as of last Tuesday, there was still $128 billion in the PPP pot, and there are rumblings about […]
Your Farm Law Update for June 16th!
COIVD Relief News- Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Focus There’s so much cash left… When the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was introduced in early April, it took less than two weeks for the PPP coffers to run dry. On April 27th, Congress replenished them with $310 billion, and today, $130 billion remains in the PPP pot, which […]
New Podcast Series: Legal Resilience on the Farm through COVID-19
Hello Friends, Our work at Farm Commons is all about supporting farmers in cultivating legal resilience for the farm business. With the devastating spread of COVID-19, the nature of farm business has been turned on its head. We know all you farmers are making quick and significant changes to your marketing channels, staff, food safety […]