Would you like to learn how to lead hour-long educational programs on popular farm law subjects at conferences, workshops, and field days in your community?
Become a Legal Ecosystem Fellow, and we’ll show you how!
We need you. Farm Commons staff can’t be every where, each winter, leading all the farm law programming that agricultural communities need to become resilient. And even if we could- it’s not ideal. We want to build the capacity of local agricultural educators to teach and support community members closest to them. We want to teach YOU to lead farm law workshops in your community!
Fellows have seen how a lack of access to legal knowledge can put small farms under when it comes to issues like accessing land, getting proper insurance coverage, settling disputes with neighbors, and following zoning codes. They recognize that supporting farmers’ ability to navigate these areas of law is crucial to sustaining and expanding agricultural communities.
If you are an agricultural educator, you can teach farm law.
It’s a fact that non-attorneys can be effective teachers of farm law – our staff proves it. This program provides what you need to become a community leader in farm law education. We’ve spent a decade crafting accessible, plain-language presentations for you to share in your communities. With the Legal Ecosystem Fellowship program, you will learn how to facilitate powerful teaching and learning spaces around farm law.
We ask that you first take our workshop, Guiding Resilience, so you have a strong baseline knowledge. (If necessary, you can also take our Discovering Resilience Self-Paced workshop to meet this requirement before the Fellowship program begins.)
Get the support you need, now and later, to share farm law knowledge.
Our 6-meeting Fellowship program will give you the tools to get going. We’ll walk you through template presentations with slides and scripts, show you how to create interactivity, discuss common questions and response techniques, and address any fears and worries. Together, we’ll sharpen our ability and perspective on farm law subjects. And our relationship won’t end after the last meeting! We will help you get your first presentation off the ground by providing editorial and technical support.
We commit to you, as well.
Your time is valuable, and we want to compensate you for investing in your capacity as an agriculture service provider. Participation in the Legal Ecosystem Fellowship program will take about 28 hours of your time between October and November. Each fellow receives an honorarium of $1400 for their time investment in this program.
We aim to see each Fellow lead a workshop or two in their community between November 2024 and December 2025. Let’s work together to make it happen!
Be sure to read the FAQ below and then: apply today! Application portal closes on August 14, 2024 and determinations will be sent shortly after August 14, 2024.
Have more questions before you apply? No problem- if the FAQ below doesn’t answer it, reach out to bonita@farmcommons.org for more information.
These are our criteria to become a Legal Ecosystem Fellow:
We expect that Fellows will seek opportunities to deliver at least one of the five presentations in their community sometime between November 2024 – December 2025. Fellows can integrate a presentation into a program they’re already running, such as a beginning farmer training program. Other options include pitching a session at a nearby conference and partnering with a local organization to host a webinar.
We are also eager to support our Fellow alums in hosting additional farm law presentations. The honorarium is just for the Fellowship period, but you can expect ongoing support in the form of presentation templates and a platform to collaborate with cohort-members and Farm Commons staff on additional presentations.
Fellows meet every week for 6 weeks to learn and discuss farm business structures, employment law, land matters, food safety, and liability/insurance. Fellows will complete no more than 90 minutes of pre-work before each session. We will use each two hour session to explore legal topics, discuss questions, practice skills, and support one another.
As the fellowship progresses, you will have opportunities to practice your presentation skills and get your individual questions about farm law answered.
Fellowship sessions will be held on the following Wednesdays: September 18, 25, October 2, 9, 16 and 23 from 7 am – 9 am PST / 8am – 10 am MT / 9am-11am CST / 10 am – Noon EST.
We provide each participant with an honorarium of $1400. To receive the honorarium, Fellows will provide their information in Gusto, our secure payment management system. We can make the payment to you, the Fellow, or to your employer. A social security number, TEIN, or EIN is required to receive payment so we can fulfill our tax obligations.
The honorarium will be made via direct deposit or paper check. Before issuing the honorarium, we will ask participants to sign an MOU agreeing that the honorarium does not create an employment relationship.
Participants may forgo the payment if they wish, or if they are prohibited from accepting an honorarium.
We anticipate receiving more applications than we have available spots. We apologize in advance if we are not able to accept all applicants! In that event, we will extend invitations based on our priorities. We strive to create a diverse Fellows cohort representative of a wide variety of expertise and personal experiences. We will prioritize the following applicants:
This program is supported by Southern SARE through a Professional Development Grant.
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