Do you own a business where you make and sell teas, salves, tinctures, and other health/beauty aids from products you grow and forage yourself? Do you have concerns about what rules and regulations affect you? Are you interested in learning about how to protect a significant portion of your profitability from botanical products from unexpected loss?
Be a part of our Botanical Products Experience Team!
Farm Commons wants to provide botanical growers and producers of botanical products with easy-to-read, accurate material on the law’s expectations of their business. But we can’t do it alone! As attorneys and educators, we can only get so far. We need guidance and input from folks on the ground and doing the work to make sure our resources meet your needs.
Your questions, thoughts, and understanding about legal issues are invaluable to us.
When you share where you have questions and what you’re already doing to manage risk, we can create effective materials that help you do even more. Your peers want to hear your thoughts too! Your input creates the solidarity we need to build stronger agricultural communities together.
Help us create actionable materials for the community while getting answers, sharing your wisdom, and connecting with peers!
Your time and thoughts are valuable, and we want to be sure you are compensated for your contributions. Service on our experience team will take 8 hours of your time between March 5, 2025 – March 19, 2025. Each participant will receive $600 in respect of their contributions.
Apply for a spot on our Experience Team today.
Are you eager to share your thoughts while learning about how the law affects botanical producers? Can you gather with us for 3 Zoom meetings in mid-March? If so, and you’d like to be considered for a spot, please complete this application by Friday, January 17, 2025. We look forward to hearing from you.
More questions? Browse our FAQ below or reach out to our Communications Manager, Bonita (she/her), at bonita@farmcommons.org for more information.
Botanical Products Experience Team FAQ
What does the Botanical Products Experience Team do, exactly?
Experience Team members attend three meetings over Zoom, each of which is 90-minutes long. Meetings are facilitated by our staff, who focus on creating a welcoming, respectful, and interactive environment. During meetings, team members share their questions and concerns about legal/regulatory issues, get solutions to common legal and regulatory questions, and reflect on the impact of those answers on their business, peer community, and customer base.
Team members will also be assigned about one hour of homework ahead of each meeting by reading educational material and reflecting on individual needs and concerns. In total, team members are asked to contribute 8 hours of their time to the program.
When are meetings held?
Wednesdays from 1 PM – 2:30 PM ET on the following dates:
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March 5, 2025
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March 12, 2025
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March 19, 2025
You say I’ll be compensated? What are the details?
We will provide each participant who successfully completes the program with an honorarium of $600 on or after the final meeting on March 19, 2025. To receive the honorarium, Botanical Product Experience Team members will provide their payment information in our secure, online, payment management system, Gusto. A social security number, TEIN, or EIN is required to receive payment so we can fulfill our tax obligations. Payment can be made via direct deposit or via paper check through the postal mail. Participants may forgo the payment if they wish.
Am I the type of business owner you are looking for? What are the criteria to participate?
We are looking for folks fitting the following criteria:
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You own a business that makes and markets botanical products.
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You are willing to share your stories and questions about legal issues related to botanical products rules and regulations and herbal production in sessions that will be recorded and potentially incorporated into our educational material (anonymous or credited, your choice)
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You are willing and able to join online group meetings using Zoom (including having the necessary hardware, software and internet bandwidth), to access Google Drive, to complete written responses in an online form, and communicate in English.
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You have the ability to join all of the scheduled meetings: March 5, 2025, March 12, 2025, and March 19, 2025.
Whether you are in the advanced planning stages of your botanical business, have just begun, or have many years of experience, we are looking for a diversity of voices! Please consider joining us.
If I apply, will I get a spot on the Experience Team?
We anticipate receiving more applications than we have available spots. We apologize in advance if we are not able to accept all applicants! In that event, we will extend invitations based on our priorities. We are prioritizing the following individuals for participation, in no particular order, and we strive to create a diverse Experience Team representative of a wide variety of product types and personal experiences.
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Business owners that grow and/or forage at least some of their own ingredients such as mint, calendula, garlic and other botanical ingredients
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Business owners based in Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and North Dakota.
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Black, Indigenous, and People of Color business owners
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Business owners who create and market a variety of products rather than, for example, just one or two alcohol-based tinctures
What do you mean when you say “botanical products” and “business owners?”
When we say “botanical products” we mean teas, tinctures, syrups, oxymels, hydrosols, salves, essential oils, and dried mushrooms/powders that are intended for sale as health and/or beauty aids. For example, we are looking for folks creating mint tea blends, calendula or comfrey salves, honey-based elderberry syrups, and much more. Our focus is on those who also grow their own ingredients and are offering value-added products to customers.
When we say “business owners” we mean folks with control over issues like what to produce, how to market it, and what records to keep on products. You do not have to be the legal business owner, but if you are we are also eager to learn from your ownership insights!