Episodes
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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 collective land ownership, as well as navigating legal barriers as a transgender person trying to move forward with a general distrust of these systems. Sagan’s wisdom is a catalyst of inspiration for how the paperwork process of creating an LLC, including the Articles of Incorporation and operating agreement, provide structure when delving into the shared values of a business. They will inspire you to begin asking the questions of importance to you in your business partnerships, and to begin resourcing for local support to get the assistance you need.
Farm Commons is grateful to have worked with Sagan as a member of the 2023 Collaborative Learning Fellowship.
Find a transcript of this episode here
Here’s what Sagan had to say about their experience sharing their story of legal resilience:In sharing your farm resilience story, what are you most grateful for from that experience?
Taking the time to craft something to be disseminated or shared really pushed me to consider what I thought was worth sharing, to lean into believing that elements of my story would be worth sharing. I am grateful to have come into a new awareness of what some of those truths are for me. Farming requires such a breadth and depth of knowledge, and there is always so much I don't know! This often makes me overlook what I have learned or disregard what I might have to share. This was a great push and reminder to appreciate my own wisdom.
Did you encounter any challenges in sharing your story? What was that like?
Yes, it was hard to decide how vulnerable to be: what feels safe vs what feels comfortable; how much to share when it might impact others I live and work with; was my hesitation rooted in fear that I might overcome or that I should mind? Acknowledging the fears and insecurities that often hinder me from sharing in the first place was a necessary and helpful step in gathering my thoughts and sharing my story.
What did the storytelling journey illuminate for you? What are you seeing differently as a result of this experience?
My approach to risk management really has shifted. The Collaborative Learning Fellowship gave me the confidence and motivation that I needed to guide our collective group through our own risk management process. We are still in the midst of it, but it would not be happening at all yet without my experiences from the fellowship.
What is your hope for folks who hear your story?
I hope it offers an extra nudge of encouragement to prioritize their own safety and protection amidst our challenging and discriminatory systems. Having the courage to approach a process that you don't understand and you know wasn't built for you to take what you can repurpose it is hard work, and I just hope this offers a little motivation for folks in a similar mindset.
What tool(s) or resource (s) have been key to your sense of resilience?
Access to professional support: a decent insurance agent, a tax preparer, a lawyer, templates to work off of. Financial support to cover professional expenses. Collective support - having friends, family, and community in this process with me and making time for joy and celebration. Alone time to recharge and recenter. Sanctuary from the chaos of the world. A sense of purpose.
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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/botanical products with regards to land use regulations. You’ll also hear important insights from farmers who researched their zoning codes and, as a result, are better informed and able to make the best decisions for their business goals.
This is the final episode of a special 3-part mini series on boosting legal resilience when making and selling botanical products. Check out the other episodes in the list below!
Other episodes in the series:
Episode 71: Navigating Botanical Product Regulation and EnforcementEpisode 72: How to Create Legally Resilient Labels for your Botanical ProductsRecommended Resources:
Farmers’ Legal Guide to Botanical ProductsFor a full transcript of the episode, click here.
This project was generously funded by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
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Missing episodes?
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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 when making and selling botanical products. Check out the other episodes in the list below!
Other episodes in the series:
Episode 71: Navigating Botanical Product Regulation and EnforcementEpisode 73: Could the Zoning Code put a Damper on Your Botanical Production Plans?For a full transcript of the episode, click here.
This project was generously funded by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
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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 public.
This is the first episode of a special 3-part mini series on boosting legal resilience when making and selling botanical products. Check out the other episodes in the list below!
Other episodes in the series:
Episode 72: How to Create Legally Resilient Labels for your Botanical ProductsEpisode 73: Could the Zoning Code put a Damper on Your Botanical Production Plans?Recommended Resources:
Farmers’ Legal Guide to Botanical ProductsFor a full transcript of the episode, click here.
This project was generously funded by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
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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 required to pay overtime to workers on your farm or ranch, salary may be an option you want to explore. Tune in to learn more about overtime and salary, and be sure to check out the resources below learn the employment laws for your state. If you aren’t a Farm Commons member -- don't worry, these resources are freely available during Open Farm Employment Law Week so be sure to check them all out!
Recommended resources:
Selected Essentials in Farm Employment Law for Your StateFarmers' Guide to Hiring Obligations -
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, please click here.
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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 this episode, we share two strategies that are proactive and designed to manage the risk of visitor injuries, while also giving you a defense if those bad things do come to pass.
Recommended Resources:
Episode 50: Protecting Your Foraged and Wild Foods Revenuehttps://assets.recenter.tamu.edu/documents/articles/570.pdfhttps://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/asset-external/ranchers-agricultural-leasing-handbook-grazing-hunting-and-livestock-leases/This material is funded in partnership by USDA, Risk Management Agency, under award number RMA22CPT0012392.
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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 Operations
This material is funded in partnership by USDA, Risk Management Agency, under award number RMA22CPT0012392.
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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 business might want to pay a fair market rental. We also highlight tax issues and identify key documents and paperwork to ensure the arrangement maintains legal integrity.
Recommended resources:
Sample Annotated Long-Term Agroforestry Lease AgreementLLC FundamentalsFarmers' Workbook for Creating a Governance DocumentThis work is supported by the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN), grant no. 2021-70035-35372/project accession no. 1027099, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
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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 Insurance. When faced with this reality, farmers may decide that the best solution lies outside of the legal system. In this episode, Kate and Bonita explore real feedback from farmers on how choosing not to engage with a risk management tool can be a resilient decision.
This material is funded in partnership by USDA, Risk Management Agency, under award number RMA22CPT0012392.
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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 peace of mind in the meantime. However, food safety liability policies are typically clear as mud. In this episode, you’ll learn how food safety liability insurance coverage generally addresses common culprits of foodborne illnesses so you can move forward with clarity and realistic expectations.
This work is supported by the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN), grant no. 2021-70035-35372/project accession no. 1027099, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
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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 contracts, for supporting and even expanding their income from foraged goods.
This episode builds on the legal background of the Micro Farm policy and Whole Farm Revenue Protection crop insurance program shared in Episode 50: Protecting Your Foraged and Wild Foods Revenue.
For a full transcript of this episode, please click here.
Additional resources:
Farm Sales Agreement Basics
This material is funded in partnership by USDA, Risk Management Agency, under award number RMA22CPT0012392.
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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-related injuries right now? In this episode, we provide strategies for answering this question as well as explain how workers' compensation, disability insurance, and life insurance can be options for covering lost wages, chronic illness, or other debilitating conditions that leave you less able to earn your income on the farm or ranch.
Resources mentioned:
Workers’ Comp Benefits: How Much is a Limb Worth?AgriSafeUpper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health CenterThis work is supported by the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN), grant no. 2021-70035-35372/project accession no. 1027099, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
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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 land, and preserve family unity. In today's episode Martha shares her story of finding a legal solution that matched her priorities.
You can stay up-to-date with Hawkeye Buffalo & Cattle Ranch on Facebook.
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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 heartache of navigating these trials, and she also knows the success of persevering through the ups and downs of different leasing relationships, harnessing her inner wisdom and community of support to grow a thriving farm business along the way. Michelle is the owner and farmer of Good Rain Farm, a mixed produce CSA farm near Portland, Oregon, focused on decolonizing diets, revitalizing culture, food sovereignty and the returning to reverent sustainable land stewardship. In this episode, Michelle shares her story of seeking stable farmland access and the hard lessons she's learned over many years and through many land-based relationships, leading up to her current pursuit: reclaiming stolen Native land to ensure her community's continued permanent and sustained land access and stewardship of the land.
Farm Commons is grateful to have worked with Michelle as a member of the 2022 Collaborative Learning Fellowship.
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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 ideas, conversations, relationships, and paperwork the cooperative's founding members managed over five years, all of which enabled the food hub to get off the ground. Farm Commons is grateful to have worked with Katie as a member of the 2022 Collaborative Learning Fellowship.
If you’d like to get in touch with Katie about cooperatives, follow her @green_gate_family_farm.
Here’s what Katie had to say about her experience sharing her story of legal resilience:
What is your hope for folks who hear your story?
I hope the length and challenges of the journey I have shared does not discourage others, but instead inspires them to dig in and get dirty! The best time to start working together is now so that in 5-10 years your work can start bearing fruit.
In sharing your farm resilience story, what are you most grateful for from that experience?
It is wonderful to make the space to reflect on how I have gotten to where I am and where the farm business and food hub business are at. It was made more enjoyable by sharing and learning in the cohort of other farmers.
What did the storytelling journey illuminate for you? What are you seeing differently as a result of this experience?
The story telling journey showed and reminded me how much work and collaboration it took to get where we are at. I am so appreciative of all the people I have been able to share this journey with. I look forward to continuing the work and being part of a vibrant food system.
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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 decision on whether or not to pursue coverage through this program. In this episode, Kate and Bonita share feedback from farmers about the Micro Farm crop insurance program and why it would or wouldn't work for their business. Tune in to learn their thoughts!
This episode builds on the legal background of the Micro Farm policy and Whole Farm Revenue Protection crop insurance program shared in Episode 47: Crop Insurance Options for Diversified Farms and Ranches.
This material is funded in partnership by USDA, Risk Management Agency, under award number RMA22CPT0012392.
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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 typically cover and what they don't. We also review what you can expect from the claims filing process and how to manage the steps of filing a claim while in the midst of a stressful loss on the farm or ranch. Listeners will take away best practices for understanding your coverage and key skills for when it's time to file a claim.
This material is funded in partnership by USDA, Risk Management Agency, under award number RMA22CPT0012392.
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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 and your business and personal goals. Along the way we share real stories and insights into managing this essential aspect of running your own business!
This work is supported by the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN), grant no. 2021-70035-35372/project accession no. 1027099, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
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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), and why this formal business structure represents a renewed commitment to the land they love in addition to providing personal asset protection. Farm Commons is grateful to have worked with Hannah as a co-presenter of our Discovering Resilience workshop with MOFGA in 2020 and as a member of the 2022 Collaborative Learning Fellowship.
Check out The Buckle Farm to follow Hannah and Jim's story.
Here’s what Hannah had to say about her experience telling her story of farm resilience:
In sharing your farm resilience story, what are you most grateful for from that experience?
My time as a Farm Commons Fellow allowed me to uncover my farm’s resiliency story in a way my partner and I wouldn’t have been able to on our own. It was so valuable to have dedicated, trustworthy time with peers to process all of the different parts of my farm’s business journey and work to the heart of our farm’s story. It was eye opening to lay it all out and realize how far our farm has actually come in the past eight years.
Did you encounter any challenges in sharing your story? What was that like?
At first it was difficult to think of my story’s full arc. Partly because I tend to compartmentalize my farming struggles into individual stories, and partly because I tent to downplay the value of my experiences in farming. Some aspects of farming were very difficult to share, very emotional. Even as the Fellows group was working together over the course of months, unexpected challenges and heartbreaks were popping up in our lives. Finding the common values, struggles, pain and joy in the stories of my peers helped me embrace my own story and see that it may offer some real meaning and encouragement to another farmer.
What did the storytelling journey illuminate for you? What are you seeing differently as a result of this experience?
It’s easy to always look at the goals that you are aspiring to, and to forget the goals that you’ve already achieved. This journey helped me understand that my partner and I have been thinking about and working towards farm resilience from day one. We’ve improved our understanding of farm resilience, connected to better resources and set higher goals along the way, and this process was extremely affirming.
What is your hope for folks who hear your story?
I hope that folks realize that while many experiences with farming and business are shared, every farm has a unique path to success and resilience. Peer-based resources are a type of skill sharing that connects practical advice and preparedness with the emotional aspects of navigating a farm business. I think it’s important for fellow farmers to have resources that acknowledge and embrace the emotional complexity of farming rather than strip the idea of “farm resilience” down to a technical prescription. We’ve benefitted so much from having mentors and peers to learn from throughout our journey, and it feels good to start passing our farm’s story on.
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