Legal Support as Movement Infrastructure
Legal Support as Movement Infrastructure
November 12, 2026 @ 10:00 am – 11:30 am PST
Co-hosted by Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (SAFSF) and Food, Farm, and Democracy Initiative (FFDI).
When funders think about “supporting legal action,” many picture only one thing: adversarial lawsuits. But the role of legal support in movement building is far broader. This session will highlight the many ways that funders can resource communities with legal capacity, including through:
- Resources and guidance materials that help organizations and farmers understand their rights and options
- 1:1 direct assistance for organizations managing agreements and administrative appeals, reviewing contracts, assessing risk, and making informed decisions
- Facilitated spaces for lawyers and food systems stakeholders navigating legal complexity to convene, strategize, and share information
We’ll show how these and other forms of legal support are interconnected and in motion right now. We’ll also examine why litigation has proven an essential and effective tool in challenging the Trump administration’s federal funding cuts and terminations, using the recent court decision restoring $127M in illegally canceled USDA Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access (LCM) Program grants as a case study. This win didn’t happen in isolation: it followed months of coordination across organizations, each supported in charting different but complementary paths forward. We’ll unpack that behind-the-scenes coordination and discuss what’s still ahead as this case continues.
This call is geared towards a funder audience but is open to movement partners.
Speakers
- Aitalohi (Aita) Amaize, Administrative Director, OurSpace World
- Rachel Armstrong, Executive Director, Farm Commons
- Art Friedrich, Executive Director, Urban Oasis Project
- Maisah Khan, Policy & Partnerships Weaver, Regenerative Agriculture Foundation
- Sophia Kruszewski, Deputy Policy Director, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
- David Muraskin, Managing Director, Litigation, FarmSTAND
Legal Support as Movement Infrastructure
Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (SAFSF) and Food, Farm, and Democracy Initiative (FFDI) | November 12, 2026 | 1:00–2:30 PM ET | Online webinar
What You’ll Learn: Explore how legal assistance can strengthen agricultural organizations, protect farmers and support community-led food systems transformation. Learn how legal guidance, contract reviews, administrative appeals, risk assessment, coordinated legal strategies and litigation can help organizations navigate complex challenges. Examine the legal effort that restored $127 million in canceled USDA Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program grants, including how organizations coordinated their responses.
Why This Matters: Farmers, community organizations and food systems advocates often face legal and financial challenges without adequate access to professional assistance. Legal support is more than courtroom representation; it is essential infrastructure for protecting organizational stability, navigating government policies, defending contractual rights and strengthening communities’ ability to respond to crises. Investing in shared legal capacity can help organizations address immediate challenges while building long-term resilience.
Action Level: LEARN
What You’ll Leave With: A practical understanding of how legal support can strengthen community organizations, agricultural initiatives and collaborative movements. Insights into funding legal assistance, organizing legal networks, navigating administrative disputes and coordinating responses to policy and funding changes.
Best For: Philanthropic foundations, agricultural funders, nonprofit organizations, legal professionals, farmers, agricultural cooperatives, food justice advocates, community organizers, policymakers, civil society leaders and organizations supporting equitable and regenerative food systems.
Systems It Connects To:
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Food production and distribution
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Human and civil rights
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Personal and digital democracy
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Finance and cooperative investment
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Circular production and regenerative agriculture
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Media and storytelling
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Legal accountability and public policy
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Community resilience and organizational development
Languages: English (expected; additional interpretation services have not been confirmed).
Accessibility and Participation Support: Online webinar intended primarily for funders but also open to movement partners. Registration details are forthcoming. Live captioning, sign-language interpretation, transcripts and other accessibility accommodations are not specified by the organizers.
Recording / Replay Available? Unknown. The organizers have not confirmed whether this webinar will be recorded or made available for replay.
Replay / Resource URL: Official event information and registration updates. No separate replay link is currently available.
Practical Next Step: Review the webinar information and register when enrollment opens. Identify legal challenges facing agricultural organizations or community initiatives, including contract disputes, funding cancellations, administrative appeals or regulatory compliance. Explore opportunities to collaborate with legal aid organizations, public-interest attorneys and philanthropic funders to establish accessible legal assistance and shared support networks.
Mobilized action pathway: Connect farmers, agricultural cooperatives, nonprofit organizations, public-interest attorneys and philanthropic partners through the Mobilized Exchange and Network. Identify organizations requiring legal assistance, match them with qualified professionals, document successful collaborative legal strategies and develop replicable models that strengthen community rights, organizational independence and food systems resilience.
Source: Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders, official event announcement. Featured speakers include Aitalohi Amaize (OurSpace World), Rachel Armstrong (Farm Commons), Art Friedrich (Urban Oasis Project), Maisah Khan (Regenerative Agriculture Foundation), Sophia Kruszewski (National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition) and David Muraskin (FarmSTAND). Learning outcomes and Mobilized action recommendations are editorial adaptations.