Applications for 2023 are now closed.
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 thoughts, concerns, or questions about what rules and regulations affect you?
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, 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! With your permission, we’d like to incorporate your stories of what you’ve already done or will do into our materials as case studies – your input creates the solidarity we need to build strong businesses 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 12 hours of your time from August through September. We will give each participant $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 products producers? Can you gather with us for 4 Zoom meetings in late summer? If so, and you’d like to be considered for a spot, please complete this application by Friday, June 2. We look forward to hearing from you.
More questions? Browse our FAQ below or reach out to bonita@farmcommons.org for more information.
What will I get out of participating in the Botanical Products Experience Team?
The Experience Team is a space to ask questions, share wisdom, and get peer support. In this program, you can expect to:
- Learn key legal risk management strategies specific to growing, creating, and selling botanical products
- Create your own Legal Risk Action Plan while teaming up with peers to brainstorm and clarify your plans
- Form meaningful professional relationships with farm peers managing similar operations
- Develop your unique story of risk management and resilience to inform and inspire others
What does the Botanical Products Experience Team do, exactly?
Experience Team members attend 4 meetings over Zoom, each of which are two hours 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 answers, and reflect on the impact of those answers on their business, peer community, and customer base.
Team members also do about 1 hour worth 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 12 hours of their time to the program. By compensating at $600, we aim to provide an equivalent of $50 per hour.
When are meetings held?
Wednesdays from 1 to 3pm EST on the following dates:
August 23rd
September 6th
September 20th
October 4th
You say I’ll be compensated? What are the details?
We provide each participant with an honorarium of $600. To receive the honorarium, team members will provide their 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. We also need participants to sign an MOU agreeing that the payment does not create an employment relationship before we can extend payment.
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:
- You own a business that makes and markets botanical products.
- 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)
- 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.
- Ability to join at least for no fewer than 3 of the 4 meetings scheduled on Wednesdays from 1 to 3pm EST on the following dates: August 23rd, September 6th, September 20th, October 4th
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.
- Business owners that grow and/or forage at least some of their own ingredients such as mint, calendula, garlic and other botanical ingredients
- Business owners based in Minnesota
- Black, Indigenous, and People of Color business owners
- 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!
We can’t wait to hear from you- Apply today!