Do you supervise or manage employees on the farm or ranch? Do you have questions about how to provide accommodations to employees with disabilities? Are you interested in learning how to update your employment practices to avoid discrimination?
Be a part of our Farm Employee Accommodation Experience Team!
Farm Commons wants to provide farm and ranch supervisors and managers with easy-to-read, accurate material to help you navigate these important concerns. 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 of 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. Our Experience Team will meet for three weeks in February 2025 and will take about eight hours of your time. Experience Team participants will receive $600 in respect of their contributions.
Apply for a spot on our Experience Team today!
If you’d like to be considered for a spot on this Experience Team, please complete this application by January 17, 2025. Determinations will be made by the end of January 2025. We look forward to hearing from you.
Do you have any questions or concerns?
Browse our FAQ below or email our Communications Manager, Bonita (she/her), at bonita@farmcommons.org for more information.
What does the Farm Employee Accommodation Experience Team do, exactly?
Experience Team members attend three meetings over Zoom, each of which are 90 minutes long. Meetings are facilitated by our staff, who focus on creating a welcoming, respectful, and interactive environment. Before each team meeting, you’ll receive a reading assignment and reflection questions to prepare for discussion. During meetings, team members will have the opportunity to share questions about the material, get widely applicable answers, and engage in action-planning activities that support their individual goals.
When are meetings held?
Wednesdays from 1 PM – 2:30 PM CT on the following dates:
-
February 12, 2025
-
February 19, 2025
-
February 26, 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 after the final meeting on February 26, 2025. To receive the honorarium, Farm Employee Accommodation 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 farm supervisor or manager you are looking for?
We are looking for folks fitting the following criteria:
-
You are willing to share your stories and questions with us about legal issues related to the experience team topics in sessions that will be recorded and potentially incorporated into our educational material.
-
You are willing and able to join online group meetings using Zoom (including having the necessary hardware, software, and internet bandwidth), and you can access Google Drive, complete written responses in an online form, and communicate in English.
-
You have the ability to join all of the scheduled meetings on Wednesdays from 1 PM to 2:30 pm CT on the following dates: February 12, February 19, and February 26, 2025.
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 operational types and personal experiences:
-
Farm and Ranch supervisors and managers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
-
Black, Indigenous, and People of Color farm and ranch supervisors and managers.