On-Farm Mentor Employment Issues

On-Farm Mentor Employment Issues Project

Did you know that on-farm trainees are employees? 

For some on-farm mentors, that’s challenging news!  Understanding the laws defining just who is an employee and the regulations that govern their employers can be daunting.  Why is your hired hand not an agricultural worker when she works at your farmers market stand?  What exactly is the 500 man-day exemption for agricultural employees and how do you qualify for it?  NESFI has been working hard to unravel the puzzle and put together the pieces that most affect on-farm mentors into an understandable format.  With generous support from NESARE, we are now preparing outreach to farmers on the critical topics of employer responsibilities, trainee housing and workers’ comp. 

If you’re a farmer who has apprentices, interns or other trainees working on your farm, please take time to look over the enclosed information.  It addresses important employer-related questions most often asked by farmers.  We hope you will find it useful, and that you will elect to respond to the survey that follows – whether or not you opt to attend one of our upcoming project workshops.   

The second phase of our project will include workshops held at farmer conferences and other gatherings during the next 8 months.  If you tell us you are interested in attending one of these, we’ll notify you about workshop dates and locations.  The workshops will address each of the three legal areas noted above in greater detail.  Workshop participants will also have the chance to apply for confidential, one-on-one assistance to work on one or more employer issues in depth.  Ten farmers will be selected for this individual help in implementing or improving.

Click here to take our survey...
(PDF) download, print and mail or fillout online and submit.