FLPC and the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) have released the second edition of Farm & Food Law: A Guide for Lawyers in the Legal Food Hub Network.
CLF launched the Massachusetts Legal Food Hub (LFH) to respond to the lack of legal services for small-scale farmers and food entrepreneurs who participate in local and regional food systems. The LFH brings together attorneys in Massachusetts who want to provide pro bono legal assistance to farmers, food entrepreneurs, and food-justice oriented community organizations. The LFH not only serves to connect attorneys to clients, but through Farm & Food Law: A Guide for Lawyers in the Legal Food Hub Network also seeks to supply resources for attorneys as they provide legal counsel to this new group of clients.
The FLPC collaborated with CLF to create the first edition of Farm & Food Law: A Guide for Lawyers in the Legal Food Hub Network in 2014. Since its initial publication, the Guide has helped attorneys build successful relationships with Massachusetts small-scale farmers and food entrepreneurs—as well as other food-related businesses, non-profit organizations, and community groups—by providing a vocabulary and working knowledge of common legal issues encountered by these participants in Massachusetts’ local food economy.
The Second Edition expands on the first to address a wider scope of the legal needs of small-scale farmers, including two brand new chapters on farmland acquisition and taxation. These are complex topics where access to informed attorneys could make the difference between a small-scale farm failing and thriving. This guide continues to be a work in progress and will be updated to include new chapters and respond to the needs of LFH attorneys.
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