Legal and Business Guide for Specialty Crop Producers

This project is conducted in a partnership with the Arkansas  Agriculture Department, the University of Arkansas System Division of  Agriculture Food Science Department and Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness  Department.

The Specialty Crops Competiveness Act of 2004 authorized the  United States Department of Agriculture to make grants available to provide  assistance for specialty crops, while the 2008 Farm Bill amended the act and  authorized USDA to provide grants to enhance the competiveness of specialty  crops.

This project is the result of one  of those grants and is designed to address a wide range of legal and business  opportunities faced by specialty crop producers in the state of Arkansas.  It covers topics on contract laws, food safety,  food labeling, agricultural labor, business organizations, and certain aspects  of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. Further, the project focuses on the unique issues of marketing and  third-party auditing systems.

The project efforts include several producer-oriented  workshops and a workbook. In addition,  the project will integrate with the eXtension Community of Practice for  Agricultural Law.

For questions about  the materials presented, please contact the National Agricultural Law Center at nataglaw@uark.edu or 479-575-7646.

Materials:

Legal and Business Guide for Specialty Crop Producers

Statewide Workshop

Date: Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Time: 8:30-2:00 (CST)

University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service

Little Rock, AR