Farm Commons

In this episode, Eva and Chloe discuss why and how to set up a disability accommodation policy if your farm employee manual. We get into why and how to use your employee manual to communicate about disability accommodations effectively and equitably with all of your farm employees to promote a healthy workplace while protecting against the risk of a discrimination claim. Recommended Resources: Epi...

In this episode, Eva and Bonita share important considerations for accommodating employee disabilities on the farm and ranch. You'll learn what a disability is in the eyes of the law, how to engage with employees about their accommodation requests, and how an accommodation decision could risk a discrimination claim. We share 5 steps for proactively managing accommodations for your employees to cre...

Lindsay Klaunig (she/her) is the farmer and owner of Trouvaille Farm in Athens, Ohio. She raises grass-fed beef and goats on pasture, heirloom crops on the ridge tops, and makes artisan chocolate and other treats in their farm kitchen. She is also a seed producer, growing heirloom vegetable seeds that are sold through small regional seed companies. Previously, Lindsay worked as a specialty cheesem...

Iriel Edwards (she/her) is a seed farmer and owner of Dancing Radicle Farm in Alexandria, Louisiana. Her passions for seeding justice in our food system and dismantling private property feed her excitement for cooperative ownership as it relates to assets like equipment and land. In this episode, Iriel speaks with her peer Lilli Voorhies of Bumble Prairie Farm, and the two explore what it means to...

Sagan Gray (they/them) is a co-owner of Bramblenook Farm, a small vegetable production farm located in Scituate, Rhode Island on the unceded lands of the Narragansett, Pokanoket, and Wampanoag people. Their farm business has been in operation since 2019, and started fresh on collectively purchased land in 2022. In this episode, they share an honest picture of the underlying power dynamics of colle...

Did you know that when a farmer starts drying herbs for tea or turning elderberries into syrup, a farm is potentially subject to different zoning or land use rules? In this podcast, Eva and Rachel help you avoid getting caught off-guard by exploring how and why zoning is a powerful decision making tool for navigating the legal transition point between growing herbal ingredients and making herbal/b...

What makes for a good label on your teas and tinctures? In terms of risk management, a good botanical product label is one that satisfies the FDA. In this episode, Eva and Chloe walk you through the 6 key elements of creating labels for your botanical products to help you market your products with confidence.  This is the second episode of a special 3-part mini series on boosting legal resilience...

Do you make and sell botanical products like tinctures and teas from herbs you grow on your farm? Understanding who regulates your product and the rules they enforce with your production, labeling, and marketing can be confusing. In this episode Rachel and Eva break down 3 key areas of botanical regulation you should be aware of when producing tinctures, teas, oxymels, and more for sale to the pub...

In honor of Open Farm Employment Law Week beginning on Monday September 18th, we are re-releasing our podcast episode on Why Some Farms Pay Wages as Salary. Why the return? Because overtime pay rules continue to evolve across the country, and farmers and ranchers need to be aware. For example, Oregon’s overtime rule changed this year in 2023, requiring overtime pay for farm workers. If you are req...

This episode is a great listen for people with, or pursuing a lease that will last for five or more years. A lot can change over time, and ensuring that your lease is valid even if the land changes ownership can bring great peace of mind. Rachel walks us through three levels of resilience farmers and ranchers can pursue when it comes to securing their lease. For a full transcript of this episode,...

It's summertime and recreation is on the mind! The top 3 recreational uses we are seeing farmer landowners share with others are (1) nature recreation, like letting CSA members onto the farm for birding and hiking, (2) hunting access for friends and family that’s free or paid, and (3) foraging by individuals in the community. The big risk here is injuries and injuries can occur in many ways. In th...

Given the typical profit-driven nature of insurance, many farmers and ranchers approach crop and livestock insurance with caution. But is the caution necessary? In this episode we explore what sets crop and livestock insurance apart from other types of insurance. For a full transcript of this episode, please click  here. Additional resources:  Crop and Livestock Insurance Options for Diversified O...

Have you heard that it's good practice to lease your farmland to your farm or ranch business? Have you wondered why this is and what this would look like? Tune in because we've got answers for you! In this episode, we explore the advantages and disadvantages of this leaseback arrangement, including balancing the upside of the farm business having a “friendly” landlord with the reality that the bus...

Federally-subsidized crop and livestock insurance is an important risk management tool available to farmers and ranchers nationwide. However, some farmers may encounter barriers to purchasing a policy or filing a claim due discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity, as well as other legally protected characteristics discussed in  Episode 54: Addressing Discrimination in Crop and Livestock I...

Food safety liability is basically the risk of someone getting sick from the food you’ve produced. This is a risk that often lurks in producers' minds because even when doing everything possible to produce and sell safe foods, there’s always the chance something can go wrong. Insurance is a key risk management strategy here to both cover damages resulting from a food safety incident and provide pe...

While federal crop insurance programs generally do not provide coverage for wild-crafted products that farmers might sell alongside their cultivated crops, farmer-foragers still have options to protect their income from foraged goods. In this episode Bonita and Kate share feedback from herbalists and farmers from across the nation about legal tools and strategies, including the use of sales contra...

Injuries to farm and ranch owners while at work are common. Accidents can happen with PTO tractor attachments, trailers that get unhitched, gates that malfunction on you, the list goes on. These dangers can lead to lost digits and limbs, which impacts the business and the farmer or rancher’s future livelihood. A key question for owners to ask themselves is: what kind of coverage do I have for work...

Martha McFarland (she/her) operates Hawkeye Buffalo & Cattle Ranch on her family’s farm in northeast Iowa. Her father started the ranch, but today Martha owns the business and operates it on land she rents from her niece. This arrangement took years of conversations with family, tax advisors, and attorneys- and it is ultimately what allows Martha to run the farm with full autonomy, protect the...

Stable long-term farmland access is essential for growing a sustainable agricultural business, but finding it is one of the biggest challenges facing farmers and ranchers today. Contributing factors to this pervasive issue are plentiful, and for Indigenous farmers, the difficulty of accessing their own ancestral lands adds an especially noxious layer. Michelle Week (she/her) intimately knows the h...

Katie Nixon (she/her) is a farmer and local food systems champion who has been working with and for agricultural producers for over 13 years in the Kansas City region. She is a co-owner of Green Gate Family Farm and a founding farmer/member of The Kansas City Food Hub, a cooperative association founded in the state of Kansas in 2016. In this episode, Katie takes us on a journey through the big ide...

Deciding on which insurance policies to pursue can feel like a puzzle, and crop insurance is no exception. At Farm Commons, we believe that an informed decision is an effective decision. With the recent update to the federal Micro Farm crop insurance program, farmers and ranchers are building on their deep wisdom about what's best for their businesses by asking key questions to make an informed de...

Do you have liability insurance that covers the operations on your farm or ranch? If so, what's your understanding of what that insurance covers? Do you know what steps you need to to take if and when you need to file a claim? If you're not sure or you need a refresher, don't worry and tune in! In this episode, we explain what crop and livestock insurance and other liability insurance policies typ...

Figuring out how to pay yourself effectively can be daunting- don't do it alone! In this episode, Kate, Eva, and Rachel explore the two main was business owners can pay themselves: owner's draw and salary. Each has benefits and drawbacks, and you may need to use one or the other depending on your business structure. Tune in to learn how to pay yourself in alignment with accounting responsibilities...

Hannah Hamilton (she/her) and her husband, Jim Buckle, are committed to raising healthy, vibrant soils and food at their farm in Unity, Maine. Almost a decade in business has taught them important lessons about business resilience, healthy relationships, and how to think about failure. In this episode, Hannah shares about The Buckle Farm’s journey toward forming a limited liability company (LLC),...

Discrimination pervades many areas of life, and agriculture is no exception. While discrimination in the areas of farmland access and agricultural lending are well documented, discrimination in insurance is not often addressed. If you’ve encountered issues purchasing or updating a federal crop or livestock insurance policy, or had a claim denied when a peer with similar circumstances had theirs ap...