Food and Agriculture Law and Policy Research

The Vermont Law and Graduate School Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS) partners with organizations nationwide, working with them to solve law and policy challenges in pursuit of a more sustainable, just, and equitable food system.

The Center for Agriculture and Food Systems develops tools and resources for food and agricultural stakeholders across the country. Learn more by exploring CAFS Projects and the CAFS Resource Library, which provide law and policy expertise to the efforts to build a more sustainable, just, and equitable food system. One good example is the Healthy Food Policy Project. It includes a curated, searchable database of healthy food policies at the local level around the United States with filters by jurisdiction type and food system category. 

In the CAFS Clinic, one of the nation’s only law and policy clinics focused solely on food and agriculture, students gain practical experience and networking opportunities. 

Set within a top-ranked environmental law program, CAFS offers degrees and courses with a unique systems-based focus on food and agricultural law and policy.

• The Food System Worker Law and Policy Project exposes gaps in laws and policies that affect the health and safety of workers throughout the food chain.
• The Blueprint for a National Food Strategy examines the need for a cohesive national approach to food system regulation through legal and scholarly research. 
• The Healthy Food Policy Project (HFPP) identifies and elevates local level policy resources that increase access to healthy food. 
• The Farm Bill Law Enterprise aims to shape legislation to better reflect the long-term needs of our society.
• The National Gleaning Project supports a network of organizations that combat food waste and feed the hungry.
• The Farmers Market Legal Toolkit aims to build resilient and accessible farmers market. 
• The Housing and Employment Rights for VT Dairy Workers Project empowers farmworkers to understand and exercise their legal rights.  
• The Farm Animal Welfare Certification Guide helps farmers and business owners adopt and communicate higher animal welfare standards. 
• The Food Systems Resilience Project presents policy research to strengthen food systems against climate change and other hazards.
• Labels Unwrapped is a user-friendly resource that breaks down the law behind food labels.
• The State Farm to School Policy Handbook is a tool for those working to advance the farm to school movement.
• The Farmland Access Legal Toolkit helps farmers and landowners affordably access, transfer, and conserve farmland.
• The Vermont Legal Food Hub connects farmers, food entrepreneurs, and food system organizations with free legal services.
• The Extension Legal Services Initiative answers farmers' and food producers' pressing legal questions about food safety compliance.
• The Growing Biodiversity Project empowers plant breeders to preserve biodiversity by putting genetic innovations in the public domain.
• The Farm to Institution Policy Project identifies policies that effectively compel state institutions to purchase local foods.  

• Energizing Agriculture: Policy Opportunities for Beneficial Electrification on the Farm explores how beneficial electrification in agriculture fosters a robust electric grid, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and cuts energy costs for both consumers and utilities.
• Appealing for Relief: An Analysis of Appealed Direct Farm Loan Decisions 2009-2022 and Opportunities for Reform shows that the USDA has wide discretion that can lead to different outcomes for similarly situated farmers in the loan approval process and reveals that innovative and nontraditional operations often face barriers to financing. Authors identify opportunities for reform at every step of the appeals process. The report was done in partnership with Farm Aid and the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI)

• Energy and Equity in Cannabis Cultivation Appealing for relief: An Analysis of Appealed Direct Farm Decisions  2009-2022 and Opportunities for Reform reveals USDA has wide discretion that could lead to different outcomes for similarly situated farmers in the loan approval process. It also reveals that innovative and nontraditional operations often face more barriers to financing. Authors identified opportunities for reform at every step of the appeals process.

• Energy and Equity in Cannabis Cultivation focuses on the social equity and energy equity impacts of regulating energy consumption in the cannabis industry.
• A Working Guide to Current Use Taxation for Agricultural Lands provides an overview of current use policies across the U.S. 
• Reorganizing a Farm Business with Chapter 12 of the Bankruptcy Code: A Brief Guide empowers farmers—and attorneys working with farmers—to transform and save farm businesses. 
• Understanding FSMA's Preventive Controls Rule: A Guide for Grain Businesses empowers grain farmers, processors, and food manufacturers to understand and comply with federal food safety laws.
• Defining Local Food: An Analysis of State Approaches and Challenges describes the various definitions for "local" or other analogous terms used in state laws meant to incentivize or otherwise promote the purchase of agricultural products that meet those definitions. 
• Local Policy to Promote Healthy Food Access: A Food Systems Framework explains the range of policy options for communities seeking to increase access to healthy food. 
• What is Healthy Food? Regulating Health Claims on Food Product Labels explores the controversial use of "healthy" claims on food product labels,
• Defining and Regulating Agritourism: Trends in State Agritourism Legislation 2019-2020  builds on the resources available on agritourism by providing a comparative analysis of state legislative approaches to agritourism, with a focus on how states define agritourism activities.
• Seafood Fraud: Analysis of Legal Approaches in the U.S. examines how the U.S. currently regulates seafood and makes recommendations for policymakers to address the issue of seafood fraud both domestically and abroad.
• Managed Rotational Grazing Policies: An Overview of Farm Bill Programs to Support Regenerative Agriculture presents a system of management that supports farmers' livelihoods while protecting climate and food system resilience.
• Exposed and At Risk: Opportunities to Strengthen Enforcement of Pesticide Regulations for Farmworker Safety analyzes the regulatory structure currently being used to protect farmworkers from the dangers of pesticide use in agriculture.

• What's the Beef? Debates Over Cell-Cultured Meat explores the questions facing federal and stare regulators about how these products should be labeled.

• Rethinking Manure Biogas: Policy Considerations to Promote Equity and Protect the Climate and Environment  dives into the existing policies incentivizing manure biogas operations, the environmental justice impacts of locking in existing systems of industrial animal agriculture, as well as alternative methods of capturing livestock emissions.

• Towards Equitable and Just Food Systems explores terminology used to describe efforts to create just and equitable food systems. It features definitions, policy examples, recommended reading, perspectives from leaders and activists, and discussion questions to prompt conversations.  

• Addressing Consolidation in Agriculture analyzes the changes in USDA rulemaking to increase domestic competition in agriculture. 

• Essentially Unprotected: A Focus on Farmworker Health Laws and Policies explores gaps in U.S. laws and policies that put farmworkers at risk. It draws from a survey of federal and state laws, focusing on pesticide exposure and heat-related illness, and offers recommendations for policies that are urgently needed to protect farmworkers. 

• The State of Prison Food in New England: A Survey of Federal and State Policy examines the laws and policies that shape food in New England’s publicly operated correctional facilities. It offers recommendations for advocates and policymakers to ensure nutritious and safe meals while improving how prison food is sourced and served.

•  Building Resilient Local Meat Supply Chains: How On-Farm Slaughter Fits into the Federal Meat Inspection Act  examines how federal and state meat inspection laws have exempted on-farm slaughter practices, and what more cam be done to support these operations. 

• Food Systems Resilience Planning and the Climate Crisis: Defining Concepts and Terminology  defines food systems resilience in the context of the climate crisis and explores key concepts for building equitable and resilient local and regional food systems. This resource is intended for local, regional, and state planners and policy makers, food policy councils, and advocacy groups.