Independence and Governance

The Farmer-Owned Project, Inc. is a Delaware nonprofit corporation founded by Tyler Speer and Robbie Dye, who also co-founded Our Farms, Inc., a for-profit company that markets farmer-owned food brands. Our Farms supported the program's early development, including work on the Certification Standard, which belongs to The Farmer-Owned Project. The two organizations are separate legal entities with separate finances. Our Farms has no ownership in The Farmer-Owned Project, no rights in the Standard or the Certified Farmer-Owned mark, and no role in certification decisions.

• An independent Certification Body, once appointed, decides certification against the published Standard.
• Our directors and officers disclose their outside interests every year and step aside from any decision where they have a conflict, under our Conflict of Interest Policy.
• Any transaction between The Farmer-Owned Project and Our Farms, or any organization connected to a director, must be disclosed in writing, approved under our Conflict of Interest Policy, and recorded in our minutes.
• Any retailer may carry and promote certified brands. Our Farms has no exclusive rights and receives no preference.
• Donating does not affect certification. Every applicant is assessed in the order received against the same published Standard.
• We are seating additional directors. Our Certificate of Incorporation requires a Board of five to seven directors, a majority of them independent and at least two of them active farmers, no later than March 2, 2028.
• Once seated, a farmer-majority Standards Council will guide how the Standard evolves.

Questions: info@farmerownedproject.org