This guide provides an overview of selected legal standards and requirements for farmers who have or want to have interns and volunteers. This area of law carries a level of uncertainty. With this uncertainty, farmers have the opportunity to strategically choose the approach they want to take.

Farmers who have a high level of risk aversion may want to take a conservative approach. This basically means treating their interns as though they were “employees” and following all applicable employment laws. Farmers who are willing to take on some degree of risk may choose to follow the seven criteria in the US DOL’s “primary beneficiary test” as best they can. Ultimately, farmers who choose to have unpaid interns will want to be sure to emphasize the education dimension. A good option is to partner with a college or academic institution and offer credit. Howev- er, this alone is likely not enough to have a legally sound internship. In addition, farmers who choose to have unpaid interns will want to be sure to keep accurate records of the hours worked and activities performed by the interns as well as the curriculum and training provided. This will provide proof of the legitimacy of the program should a dispute or enforcement action arise.

As for volunteers, the law is pretty clear that for-profit businesses are not permit- ted to have unpaid volunteers. To play it safe, for-profit farms may want to con- sider following all applicable employment laws for volunteers who work on their farm. This includes carrying workers’ compensation for these volunteers as well as paying minimum wage unless the farm falls within the federal agricultural labor exemption.

This guide also discusses some basic guidelines for paying workers in-kind wages. Farmers who have or are thinking about having worker shares or otherwise paying their workers in-kind should review and follow the Paying In-Kind Wages section of this guide in detail.

Additional resources are referred to throughout this guide. Keep reading through Section 3, and don’t miss Section 1.