Be a part of our Botanical Products Experience Team!
Share and learn about the legal aspects of creating teas, salves, and more Applications for 2023 are now closed. Do you own a business where you make and sell teas, salves, tinctures and other health/beauty aids from products you grow and forage yourself? Do you have thoughts, concerns, or questions about what rules and regulations […]
$123 Million in Additional Funds for Distressed Borrowers
The USDA announced that starting in April, it will provide $123 million in additional, automatic financial assistance to qualifying farm loan program borrowers. The Federation of Southern Cooperatives is lauding this move as responsive to advocacy efforts on behalf of Black farmers. The recently announced funds are an addition to the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) […]
Who Owns Our Farmland: Foreign Ownership Legislation Proliferates
Just this year, over half the states have introduced bills to restrict foreign ownership of agricultural land. These states are joining the approximately eighteen states that already have laws limiting foreign ownership in some way. It is true that between 2009 and 2019, foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land doubled, and it has only continued […]
Solar Leasing Brings Complex Questions
Agricultural communities are wrestling with the implications of utility-scale solar as the tax incentives of the Inflation Reduction Act spur surging investment in solar projects that cover thousands of acres. If the federal goals for renewable energy are met, as many as 10 million acres of land will be converted to solar generation. The best […]
Family Farm Feud: Relatives Without Governance Document End Up in Court
This was no ordinary Southeast strawberry farm; start-up costs reached nearly nine million dollars, and the farm covered 250 acres. Successful even during the pandemic, locals swarmed to savor the farm store\’s ice cream after picking berries on a hot afternoon. Though still operational, the farm is no longer a family venture–that dream collapsed in […]
Leasing Farmland to the Highest Bidder? Examining the latest option from a legal angle.
Farm auctions are commonplace when it’s time to sell farm land or assets. But auctioning off the right to lease the farmland? This relatively new option is getting headlines for capturing high rental rates in an already heated market. The premise is pretty simple: farmers who want farmland can bid on the right to lease […]
Escaped Farmworkers Find Justice in Recent Conviction
Farmworkers forced to escape a Florida farm labor camp in 2017 have finally received some vindication. The owner of Los Villatoros Harvesting (LVH), LLC, a farm labor contractor, was recently sentenced to almost a decade in prison for abuse of H-2A workers between 2015-2017. The H-2A program is simply a visa program. If farm owners […]
Pennsylvania to Begin Enforcing New Hayride Regulations. Will Other States Jump on the Haywagon?
Hayrides aren’t all fun and games: Over nearly 20 years, 22 people (including 14 children) have been killed in hayride incidences with another 160 injured in accidents. With these attractions on the upswing in popularity, public policy is also trending towards increased regulation. Explore with us a newly-adopted Pennsylvania regulation and the ecosystem in which […]
California’s Agricultural Overtime Rate Reaches Small Farms
Starting January 1, 2023, California’s agricultural overtime rule came into effect for farms with 25 or fewer employees. As of the new year, these farms must pay hourly rates of 1.5 times the regular wage for all hours worked over 50 in the week. Reactions to the new overtime rule are mixed. The Sacramento Bee […]
Is it illegal for Farm Commons to write a guide that helps producers without documentation form LLCs?!
That’s the question Farm Commons is hoping to get answered later this year as we prepare to translate our popular Farmers’ Guide to Business Structures into Spanish in 2023. We would like to add information on whether and how farmers without documentation can secure the protections of an LLC or a corporation. But, we’re keenly […]