Collaborative Learning Fellowship

Support your peers by telling stories of your own wisdom and experience building resilience on your farm or ranch

Develop your own story about why and how you've addressed business law issues in your operation
Build your confidence to share your hard-earned wisdom with others through a video or podcast episode on our channels

The Collaborative Learning Fellowship is not open for applications at this time. Please check back in fall of 2024 for more information!

The CLF program provides a platform to further cultivate the wisdom of our community through directly networking with farmer peers about legal risk management solutions.  In doing so, Fellows will support Farm Commons’ backbone team, cohort peers, and the wider agricultural community in driving innovative and creative solutions for farm business law matters. Throughout this process, we raise up the cohort’s stories of legal resilience through podcast and video projects, shared with peers nationwide.

In sum, the CLF program has four objectives:

  1. Elevate solutions to legal vulnerabilities created by farmers and ranchers
  2. Stimulate creative, solutions-oriented discussion about legal vulnerabilities, community-wide
  3. Increase the capacity of farmers and ranchers to create their own solutions to legal vulnerabilities
  4. Foster relationships among farmers and ranchers that support broad-based resiliency

The selected cohort of up to 5 producers will collaborate with Farm Commons staff to co-create an inviting space that fosters collaboration, resource creation, question exploration,
knowledge sharing, and holistic support.

Fellows will bring ideas, creativity and resources to share with one another. Fellows will have a passion for building resilience in their local and regional food and farming community, a deep commitment to racial and social equity, and an interest in developing collaborative networks for peer learning and collective impact.

2023 Farmer Fellow
"I hope to continue with my new system of self reflection. I think reflecting around business practices in particular was not something I considered before this fellowship in terms of journaling and tying my feelings into the actual structure and management of things."
2023 Farmer Fellow
"The most meaningful and memorable takeaway from this experience is the ability to identify lessons within my experience. This fellowship gave me a system to process those more tangibly. Moving forward in collaborating with others, I have used some of the guiding questions within this fellowship to carry out discussions with growers outside of the group. Listening to each others stories, conflict, or discussions in pain is the first step in collaborative building. "
“Participating in the fellowship with my peers has been an uplifting and generous opportunity for myself and my farm. I am a better leader for it and most importantly my farm is better positioned to continue supporting and nourishing our community for years to come.”
2022 Farmer Fellow
2022 Farmer Fellow
“This peer-based model has provided invaluable support and insights from farmers that are navigating similar legal decision-making within their own businesses”
2022 Farmer Fellow
“I gained leadership training and skills that have allowed me to become a better mentor and presenter within my farming community”