Easements on a piece of property significantly influence how land can be used. Attorney Andrew Marchev and Third-Year Law Student Clinician Veronica Gassert of Three Rivers Law present the different types of easements and common conditions found in each.
Location: United States
Introduction to Cooperatives
Cooperatives as a business structure help maximize resources and distribute profits equally among members. They can also foster a strong community since members work and vote alongside each other. This webinar, presented by attorney Erika Dunyak of Vermont Law and Graduate School, reviews the different types of cooperatives and what to consider before filing.
Branding Best Practices
As a small business owner, you want to develop and protect your brand, but you don’t yet have the funds to file for trademark protection. In this webinar, Attorney Christina Licursi of Wolf Greenfield covers steps you can take to have some level of protection from the beginning as well as when to take the plunge and file for protection.
Una guía para proteger sus recetas
Cuando se trata de empresas alimentarias, evitar que otros utilicen sus recetas y procesos es un aspecto importante para garantizar una ventaja competitiva. Un concepto de la ley llamado secreto comercial puede ofrecer protección para recetas y procesos de producción de alimentos. Muchas empresas tienen secretos comerciales que son esenciales para su funcionamiento y éxito. Esta es una guía que le presentará qué es un secreto comercial, qué se debe hacer para establecerlo y cómo se protege.
Decidiendo sobre la estructura adecuada para su negocio
Como agricultor o empresa alimentaria, elegir una estructura empresarial es una decisión importante con implicaciones importantes para su negocio y su responsabilidad personal. Esta guía de decisiones, desarrollada por Conservation Law Foundation, lo guía a través de las diferentes estructuras comerciales que puede considerar y sopesa las ventajas y desventajas de cada opción. Esta guía es un excelente punto de partida para las empresas que piensan en qué estructura empresarial es adecuada para sus necesidades.
Arrendamientos de tierras agrícolas
Si bien muchos arrendamientos agrícolas se realizan con un apretón de manos, esta práctica no es una buena idea porque no existe un acuerdo escrito en caso de desacuerdo entre las partes. Un contrato de arrendamiento bien redactado aclarará los términos del arrendamiento, dejará menos oportunidades de malentendidos y reducirá la probabilidad de un conflicto potencial entre un propietario de tierra y un agricultor.
Formas alternativas de comprar la granja
Esta guía explora las siguientes formas alternativas de comprar tierras agrícolas:
- Adquisición de terrenos financiada por el vendedor
- Compra a plazos
- Arrendamiento con opción a compra.
Introducción a la formación de cooperativas
Una cooperativa (“co-op”) es un tipo de empresa con fines de lucro de propiedad comunitaria y administrada democráticamente por sus miembros. Esta guía legal cubre tipos comunes de cooperativas, beneficios fiscales de las cooperativas, beneficios y riesgos, así como también cómo formar una cooperativa.
Selling Value-Added Products on the Farm
If you are a farmer interested in opening a farmstand on your property, this webinar will teach you about key federal, state and local regulations that impact small food producers who seek to make and sell value-added products from home. We will cover what’s allowed when selling meat, eggs, dairy, cottage foods such as pickles and baked goods, and more, and explore the legal solutions that can help these businesses grow and thrive.
Presenter: Legal Services Specialist, Christine Dzujna, of Farm-To-Consumer Legal Defense Fund
Onboarding New Employees
Congratulations! Your small business is ready to hire your first employees. This is both an exciting and daunting process. Luckily, we have Tara Walker and Bill Wahrer of Bernstein Shur Portland, Maine who will walk you through this process. They will cover common legal traps for the hiring manager in the hiring and interview process, she will provide a checklist of best practices, and recommended documentation for your new employees.
Presenters: Attorneys Tara Walker and Bill Wahrer of Bernstein Shur
Media and Marketing 101
As a small business, you are likely using emails, text, and social media to advertise your business and communicate with your customers. You may also have your own webpage spotlighting customer reviews and other content. With all these forms of social media and communication comes a web of laws that are difficult to navigate. During this webinar, a team of attorneys from Bernstein Shur will help you detangle these laws. We will cover topics such as email, text, and social media marketing, claim substantiation, website policies, the proper use of logos and other copyrighted material, endorsements, testimonials, and customer reviews, and other hot topics in advertising law.
Presenters: Attorneys Elliot Brake, Kevan Lee Deckelmann, Chad W. Higgins, Matthew J. Saldaña
Hosting a Food Focused Event: The Legal Side of a Delicious Activity
Hosting an event with food on your farm is a great way to gather your community, educate the public about farming, and grow your business. Watch this webinar to learn about next steps to safely and legally offer samples, host a tasting, farm to table meal, or other event with food on your farm. During the session you will hear from Corie Pierce, owner of Bread and Butter Farm in Shelburne, Vermont and regular host of burger nights. You will also hear from Andrew Marchev, Legal Fellow at the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems and Lisa Chase, Agritourism Expert at University of Vermont Extension.
Presenters: Corie Pierce, Bread and Butter Farm Vermont, Dr. Lisa Chase, University of Vermont, Attorney Andrew Marchev, Fellow at Vermont Law School
Laws of the Land: What to Know About Your Farm BEFORE You Commit
You’ve heard the phrase ‘location, location, location’ when it comes to choosing a home. It’s no different for farmers when choosing a site for their farm business. All sites come with unique conditions that impact the farm’s viability, including physical characteristics, zoning restrictions, federal and state permitting requirements, and pre-existing third-party rights of neighbors, landlords, tenants, easement holders, or lenders. This webinar will cover the who, what, how, where, and most importantly, why, of identifying the unique characteristics and regulatory requirements tied to your future farm property before you sign on the dotted line.
Presenters: Attorneys Laura Hartz and Stacey Caulk of Drummond Woodsum
Arrendamiento de Terrenos Agrícolas
Si bien muchos arrendamientos de granjas se realizan con un acuerdo verbal, esta práctica no es una buena idea porque no hay un acuerdo por escrito en caso de desacuerdo entre las partes. Un contrato de arrendamiento bien escrito hará que los términos del arrendamiento sean claros y dejará menos oportunidades para malentendidos y reducirá la probabilidad de un conflicto entre el propietario y el agricultor.
Introduction to Land Leases
In New England, many farmers choose to lease their farmland instead of buying it. It is important to think about what your farmland lease will include and advocate for yourself so that the provisions that you need are in the lease. This guide discusses several of the issues that you should think about including in your lease with the help of your lawyer.
Farmland Leases
While many farm leases are done with a handshake, this practice is not a good idea because there is no written agreement in the event of a disagreement between the parties. A well-written lease agreement will make the lease terms clear and leave less opportunity for misunderstanding and reduces the likelihood of a potential conflict between a landowner and a farmer.
Alternative Ways to Buy The Farm
This Guide explores the following alternative ways to purchase farmland:
- Seller-financed land acquisition
- Purchase by installments
- Lease with an option to purchase.
Farm Succession Advising: An Attorney Training Guide
Among beginning (and other) farmers’ biggest challenges is accessing land, including land and farms in the hands of older farmers. Therefore, how those farmers transition their farms to the next generation (family or unrelated) is of utmost importance. Land For Good’s Training Guide provides attorneys with solid legal background material and technical tools to use in assisting farmer clients to develop their farm succession plans.
Your Legal Toolkit for Starting a Farm
When you’re starting a farm business, there are lots of important legal issues to consider, from what type of business entity you’ll form to how to protect yourself from liability and plan for the future. This comprehensive webinar will equip farmers with the legal know-how to tackle these key decisions and start off on a strong legal footing.
Elements of a Farmland Lease
When a farmer works with a landowner to put together a farmland lease, there are many important considerations. This webinar will inform farmers and nonprofit farm organizations about the key elements that should be in a farmland lease.
Presenter: Jeff Polubinski, Gravel & Shea.
Labeling Your Food Product
Small food businesses and farms with value-added processing often sell their products locally, but understanding the Food and Drug Administration’s rules for labeling those products can be challenging. This webinar will prepare you to feel confident creating a food label and selling your product.
Presenters: Rachel Gartner & Zac Maciejewski, Faegre, Drinker Biddle and Reath.
Starting your Farm or Food Business: Succession Planning
When you’re forming your LLC or other business entity, it is important to plan for the future. This webinar will prepare you with key questions to consider about succession planning when forming your business.
Presenter: Kim Memmesheimer, Hoefle, Phoenix, Gormley & Roberts, PLLC.
A Working Guide to Current Use Taxation for Agricultural Lands
Developed by Vermont Law School’s Center for Agriculture and Food Systems, “A Working Guide to Current Use Taxation for Agricultural Lands” provides an overview of current use policies across the U.S.
Current use programs—which generally allow farmers to pay taxes on their land at current (agricultural) value rather than its assessed value for another non-farming use—are an important tool in the farmland preservation toolbox.
Written by Vermont Law School adjunct professor Jess Phelps, this guide explains the concept of current use and examines current use policies and programs. Identifying common challenges and opportunities, it aims to help policymakers adapt current use programs to modern farmland preservation needs. It also dives into a case study of current use in Vermont to explore how a program functions at the farm level, and includes a handy reference guide to state current use statutes across the country.
This guide was funded by the National Agricultural Library, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
A Guide to Protecting Your Recipes
When it comes to food businesses, preventing others from using your recipes and processes is an important aspect to ensuring a competitive edge. A concept in the law called a trade secret may offer protection for recipes and food production processes. Many companies have trade secrets that are essential to their operation and success. This is a guide that will introduce you to what a trade secret is, what must be done to establish it, and how it is protected.