Organization Highlight: CAFS

Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS), Vermont Law and Graduate School

The Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS) is a research-based center at Vermont Law and Graduate School that produces original scholarly research in the field of food and agricultural law and policy to serve the broadest range of food system stakeholders.  With local, regional, national, and international partners, CAFS addresses food system challenges related to food and nutrition security and affordability, farmland access, food system workers, farm viability, local economies, and public health, among others. CAFS works closely with its partners to provide legal services and develop resources that respond to their needs. Through CAFS’s Food and Agriculture Clinic and Research Assistant Program, Vermont Law and Graduate School students work directly on projects alongside partners nationwide, engaging in innovative work that spans the food system.

CAFS engages in a number of activities to support heirs’ property owners, both urban and rural. CAFS has created a webpage containing an overview of heirs’ property, which includes state based fact sheets that address certain legal issues that arise for heirs’ property owners, and other resources. CAFS also manages the Heirs Property Policy & Programs bi-monthly call and listserv, where people and organizations working on policy or programs relevant to heirs’ property discuss recent developments in the field and hear from those doing policy work. Fran Miller, CAFS Senior Staff Attorney and Adjunct Faculty, conducts national trainings on heirs’ property with the Southern Rural Development Center and the National Policy Center at Alcorn State University. CAFS collaborates with numerous organizations in the field and develops legal educational resources with partners.